


Leap

by AnHufflepuffInTheTARDIS (Charlie_B_Duval)



Series: Leap [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 08, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Episode: s08e02 Into the Dalek, Episode: s08e03 Robot of Sherwood, Episode: s08e11 Dark Water, Episode: s08e12 Death in Heaven, F/M, Gen, Mentions (lots of mentions) of the classic!Who & Big Finish & novels, Twelve breaks the universe, adventure with a (tiny) side of romance, and a bit of silliness, made up myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 12:53:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11509851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie_B_Duval/pseuds/AnHufflepuffInTheTARDIS
Summary: After Clara left him in Glasgow, the newly regenerated Doctor decided to visit old companions to mend his broken hearts. All was good until he arrived in Powell Estate mere hours before his old self met Rose.Then, everything changed.





	Leap

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. I can't believe I finally finished this story. I first tried to write it back in 2011 (of course, at the moment Eleven was the main character instead of Twelve) and had tried again in 2013. Without success.  
> When searching for something to write for the July 2017 Camp NaNo I remember it and decided to give it a go. And as they say: third time's the charm.  
> So I present to you the fic that I thought would never be written (and actually wasn't written as planned).
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy it!
> 
> (I tried to auto-beta it but English isn't my native language, so there may have typos left)
> 
> *
> 
> Art by me

 

* * *

 

 

He knew. He saw it in her eyes. She was gonna leave him; his Clara, his Impossible Girl was going to leave.

 

“I'm sorry Doctor but... I can't. I can't continue. You're not him. You're not _my_ Doctor.”

“But I am! You know it. You met all my other selves and it didn't changed anything, so why now?”, pleaded the Doctor.

“Yes, I saw them but they weren't... They...”, Clara sighed. “Look, in my head I know you're still him but in my heart, I'm sorry, but you're not. I know it hurts and... I'm really sorry. And it's not even the only reason why I want to leave. I told you I'm tired of living a double life. I want out. Please understand.”

 

The Doctor sighed and rubbed his face. He knew he should have take some time, back on Trenzalore, to phone Clara and asked her to stay with his future – now current – self.

 

“I do. It's just that I had so many other things to show you. And I'll miss you, my Impossible Girl.”

“I'll miss you too. All thirteen of you.”, added Clara.

“But most of all, you'll miss Mister Bow Tie & Floppy hair.”

“Doctor, stop it. And you know you won't be alone for long. You'll find someone else whom you'll show all those things you're talking about.”

 

The Doctor didn't responded. Then Clara hugged him and he tensed.

 

“I don't think I'm a hugging person.”

“Tough!”, answered Clara squeezing him before she let go of him. “Goodbye Doctor.”

“Goodbye Clara.”

 

Without looking back, the Doctor entered the TARDIS and set the coordinates to random before he collapsed in his seat, brooding.

 

 

Orbiting a deserted unnamed moon in a deserted unnamed solar system was not the most exciting thing one could imagined to do but at the moment the Doctor wasn't looking for excitement. He wasn't looking for anything. All he wanted was to forget that Clara had abandoned him. He couldn't remember the last time one of his companions had left him behind. He knew she was far from the first to do so and probably wouldn't be the last either, but it hurt nonetheless. And he was angry. He had the right to be, he was Scottish now.

He also was irrational and was trying to convinced himself that if he couldn't remember any companion leaving him willingly, it was because Clara was the only one that had done so.

Well, maybe she was grateful being free of him but others would be happy to see him again, he decided. Plus, he had meant to go visit some old friends before Trenzalore but never had the chance to; now was the perfect time. But who would be first? Should he go chronologically backward, starting with Donna as he couldn't go and see the Ponds, or should he pick randomly? And should he just watch them or go and talk to them?

 

 

He couldn't help himself; he giggled when he saw Donna threatening another poor constable while her husband helped their son to exit the car. She seemed happy. He was glad. She deserved some happiness.

 

 

Next he went to see Sarah Jane and was devastated to discover she had passed away some years prior. He spent a week in the Vortex, recalling their time together. Glorious days with his Sarah. After a week, he went back to Bannerman Road and offered his condolences to Luke and Sky and a mini-Matrix that contained duplicates some of his fonder memories of their adoptive mother.

 

 

He found Ace by accident. He was looking for a stray Zygon when he collided with her at the corner of a street. She was older but always so spirited and happy to blow things up. She invited him to meet her wife and to his surprise he found himself face to face with no other than Tegan. When he asked how they had met, the Australian pretended that it was on one of the meetings some of his former companions held twice a year, to talk about their time with him. In reality, Ace told him after they had dinner, they had met on a plane. They had discovered they both knew him only three years later, when Tegan had been talking about former lovers and confessed to Ace that her first girlfriend had been an alien girl she met and travelled with, along with a man called the Doctor. She had been certain her girlfriend would never believe her and thought her crazy, but Ace had just started talking about her own time with the “Professor” as she used to call him.

 

 

Scotland was as damp as it was supposed to be and Jamie was as happy as he wanted him to be, though oblivious of the older strange man watching him from behind a tree. He wondered briefly what the young man would think of the Doctor's new Scottishness.

 

 

Finding Martha and Mickey had been easier than he thought it would be. It appeared they still were in the business of defending the Earth against alien menaces. He was proud of them. He was also proud they were good at that 'cause he got caught by the Sea Devils who had emerged near Aberdeen's harbour and he couldn't escaped his cell since his sonic still didn't have a wood setting (it really was getting quite ridiculous). All three exchanged stories for hours before the Doctor left them.

 

 

Next he found himself on Mendorax Dellora where he met River. And two of her other husbands, one of whom she hired him to kill. It took some time for his wife to recognized him which was frankly hurtful. They defeated King Hydrofllax – who had previously assassinated Ramone, the third husband of River.

He had never intended to, not in a billion years, but he found himself taking River to Darillium and the Singing Towers. Their last night together – a twenty-four years long night – had been spent happily. They both had cried when the morning had come and they had had to say goodbye – for good, this time. He hated to see her leave for the Library but he knew that his former self would be able to save her in some way. Maybe some day he should go back to the Library and see if he could upload her consciousness into a new body.

 

 

He intended to go and see the Brigadier but when he landed in UNIT HQ, he had heard the man and his third self arguing loudly and left promptly while Jo tried to calm them. Better left them alone; sure he missed the Brigadier but their arguments were something he didn't wished to relive. Ever.

 

 

He hesitated before entering the next set of coordinates, feeling something was about to change drastically. The TARDIS herself fought him a bit but finally dematerialised.

 

 

The Powell Estate was exactly like he remembered it to be. Graffiti all over the walls. Overflown dumpsters. Half-ripped posters. Acrid stinking exhaust fumes. Noisy. And Mickey sitting on a trash bin, reading a paper. He had missed this particular neighbourhood more than he thought he ever would; he had so many memories here. The first time he had been slapped by someone's mother. His ninth regeneration who went wrong and the Christmas spent in Jackie's flat. Ood Sigma who sang for him before another regeneration. And her, always her; Rose.

There, after centuries, more than a millennium even, he authorized himself to think her name. Rose. All this time, he refused to think about her; but now, just outside her apartment building ready to see her appearing at any moment, he could finally drop the mental barrier he built around his memories of her.

She couldn't be far from him now. He closed his eyes for a couple of instants, trying to remember every details of her – perfect – face. He found that it was very easy in spite of the years.

He took a deep inspiration and opened his eyes. And his breath froze in his lungs. Here she was. Not even fifty feet away. Always – or rather already – so gorgeous. Seeing her like this, he wondered how he had been able to live without her all those centuries.

Badly was the answer. Very badly. Her absence hurt, his solitude hurt. Of course, he had never really been alone, he always had had companions, but sometimes he had felt so lonely, even with his friends. Worse he had felt like a was missing a vital piece. But now she was here, just a few feet away and he felt alive again, whole again.

He knew he couldn't stay here forever and that it will hurt when he would have to go away eventually, but he would make the best of his time in the estate. Just watching her living, being. He knew it was creepy but he couldn't had care less.

Leaving her, for good this time, would be difficult. Difficult, hurtful, necessary. This visit was the last; the bandage he needed to heal for good. Because he couldn't keep thinking about her for the rest of his life; especially now that he had a whole new regeneration cycle. He was a Time Lord and could live for millennia while she – at best – would live for one tiny, ridiculous, century.

He refused to think about her inevitable death. He opened his eyes – when did he close them? She had approached, now only three feet from him. She was smiling. He had to talk to her, he had to hear her voice one last time.

 

“Excuse me”, he called, “can I ask you what time it is, please?”

 

Not his most original line but it would have to do.

 

“Sure, mate. It's eight thirty-two.”, she answered with a smile.

 

This smile... He had dreamt of it during months after Bad Wolf Bay, maybe years even. He couldn't talk, focused on her face, incapable of thanking her for her answer; answer that he couldn't had care less about.

 

“You're fine, mate?”, she asked, slightly worried by his attitude.

“Er... Oh, yes. Just... I just remembered something. That's not important. Thank you, miss.”

 

Not important. Sure. He was such a liar sometimes. She was important. More important than anything, than anyone, in the entire cosmos. Certainly more important than himself.

She smiled to him one last time and continue to walk, ignoring the effect she had on the stranger who asked her for the time.

When she had disappeared, he decided it was time he returned to the TARDIS, determined to leave the Powell Estate and to never come back. He probably would have if he didn't notice something on the control screen, something the TARDIS had tried to keep from him; an alien presence in the heart of London. In Henricks, more precisely. Intrigued, he studied the informations the ship gave him unwillingly. That's when he saw the date; it was the day his former self met Rose for the first time. Which meant he was somewhere in the capital, ready – even if he didn't know it – to make the most amazing encounter of his very long life. Ready to take Rose away from him, the newer and so much older Doctor.

No. Though he had been ready to leave the estate forever, only minutes ago, he discovered he wasn't, in fact, ready to leave Rose behind. Not yet. Maybe not ever. The moment this thought formed in his mind, he felt the TARDIS trying to dematerialise. But he was quick on his feet and left the ship before she could stop him. Nobody would stop him from seeing Rose. Not even his former self. The instant he was outside the TARDIS, he started running in the direction of Henricks. He needed to find Rose first.

 

 

Finding her wasn't hard. Finding her before his former self was a little more of a struggle. Fortunately, he had an excellent memory (sometimes) and remembered perfectly well what his ninth incarnation had done and in which order and he had been able to slow him down by setting traps (not anything too dangerous; just enough to make him lost some precious minutes). He then waited for the right time.

While his former self was fighting against a stubborn door who kept locking itself, the Doctor reached the basement where he knew he would find Rose surrounded by Autons. Autons he didn't intended to deal with; the other Doctor could work it out himself. After all, he did it the last, well first, time (with Rose's help, sure, but he was an nearly intelligent man, he would manage).

 

“Is that someone mucking about?”, he heard her ask not far from were he was standing. “Who is it?”

 

He didn't move and watched her. He saw the Autons starting to move and walk towards her but he still stand still; it wasn't time.

 

“Right, I got the joke! Whose idea was it? Was it Derek's?”

 

Who was Derek? Probably some pudding-brained human who like to play stupid jokes instead of doing the job he was paid to do.

The Autons were far too many now and she was starting to panic (though she didn't show it, brave girl that she was) and would soon be cornered; that was the moment to intervene. Like the last – first – time, he approached her, took her hand and told her to run. It was most exhilarating to feel her fingers trapped between his after all those centuries. He laughed a bit, hopefully not too maniacally as they made their way towards the lift. Knowing she wouldn't believe without proof, he slowed just enough to let one of the Autons reach the elevator as they entered it and, just like before, ripped its arm out.

 

“Stupid plastic.”, he grumbled.

“Who are they? Students? Is this a student thing or what?”, she asked.

 

He rolled his eyes. He might lo... like her but this idea was stupid. He said her so.

 

“No, they are not “students”; they're Autons.”

“Autons?”

“Plastic mannequins animated by an alien conscience.”, he answered her.

“Yeah, sure. Aliens.”

“Listen... What's your name?”, he questioned as if he didn't already knew.

“Rose. Rose Tyler.”

“Listen, Rose. I know you don't believe me but right now is not the time to question me. So, look at that.”

 

He put his sonic sunglasses on, touch the control button and the Auton arm came alive before their eyes. She gasped.

 

“There, see. Living plastic.”, he fumbled some more with his sunglasses and the arm stopped moving. “I will explain some more later if you like, but at the moment we have to escape the building as I have a very heavy intuition that it would really soon be blown up.”

“What?!”, she screeched.

 

Well, maybe he shouldn't have told her that.

 

“What do you mean “blow up”? What have you done?”, she asked as they exited the lift.

“Nothing. Well, that's not entirely true. Except it is. I...

 

He couldn't finish his sentence for a body collided with him. A body he knew well since he used to wear it. There, he was face to face with his former self who was grinning like a lunatic, a detonator clutched in his hand.

 

“Sorry. Bit in a rush.”

“Oh, I know, believe me.”, declared the Doctor. “Running from Autons, ourselves. I guess you planted a bomb on the roof and we have only a few minutes before it goes boom?”

“Bomb?”, asked Rose, alarmed, but both men ignored her.

“Actually, yes. Wait. How do you... No! You, I mean, me? Oh, that's just fantastic.”, he muttered sarcastically.

“Yes, yes. Now, I believe we have to run, so move, you idiot. You too, Rose.”

“Who are you, guys? Some sort of terrorists? What do you intend to do to me?

“What? Terro... Omega, no!”, exclaimed the current Doctor as they ran. “As for what we'll do to you, I thought it was obvious: save you from those Autons.”

 

The Doctor took Rose's hand once more while the former Doctor ran towards the steps leading to the roof.

 

They haven't been out for more that twenty second when a loud explosion was heard and the street shook from the detonation.

 

“Are you OK, Rose?

“Yeah... I... What...”

“Come, let's walk. I gather you want some explanation about what happened tonight?”

 

Shaken from the shock, Rose only nodded and follow him quietly.

 

“I should probably introduce me, too. I'm the Doctor.

“And that man we encountered? Who was he? And do you think he survived? Not that I care; he blew up my job.”

“He was... also the Doctor, as it pained me to say. The man is an idiot.”

 

Really, he was. How couldn't he have thought of using a remote control instead of going on the roof were the bomb was, to detonate it?

 

“And since you ask, yes he survived. If he didn't I wouldn't exist since he's me. He's one of my former selves.”

“Right... Know that you're a nutter, Doctor whatever.”

“That has been said one time or a million.”

“Doctor... I feel stupid for even asking but... Were you serious about the alien plastic people?”

“Rose, you saw the arm moving.”

“It could be some accessory from a play or a movie. But it's not, is it?”

“Of course it's not!”, retorted the Doctor.

“Gosh, aliens do exist.”

“If it helps, Martians aren't little green men. They're huge, armoured, green men. Huge poesy-fans warriors with a temper. They also aren't named Martians at all. I met them several times; good fellows for the majority. A bit trigger-happy if they sense they're being provoked but a good lot nonetheless. Far better than, say, Cybermen. And don't get me starting on the Daleks. They are a very nasty lot, those pepper shakers.”

 

Rose was looking at the Doctor with a confused air.

 

“Sorry, was I boring you?”

“What? Oh, no, I was just wondering which establishment you escaped from.”

“I'd love to talk about my multiple escapes from psychiatric hospitals but I fear...”

 

Rose's phone rung.

 

“Sorry, that's my mum.”, she informed him.

 

The Doctor didn't respond but didn't think less. Jackie... Urgh. He had like her alright but she was a prime and insufferable example of what a pudding-brain human was. And she slapped him. Him!

 

“Mum... Listen... No, I'm good. I'm with a... friend.”

 

She didn't seemed convinced about the friend part, which was to be expected since they just met and he confused her with his alien talk.

 

“You don't know him... No. No, tell Mickey I... No, mum, he... Mum, stop it. See you later.”, she hung with a sigh. “Now, explain me something, Doctor What's-your-name. Who are you?”

“Someone who saved your life. Now you probably should go home, your mother won't stop calling you until you do.”

 

As to prove him right, Rose's phone rung again.

 

“How do you... Nevermind. You promised explanations but all you did is babble about Martians and I don't know what else.”

 

Yes, he did promise her.

 

“You know what, I'm in town for a couple more days. What do you say we meet tomorrow and I explain then? Now you are shocked and you need to rest. Because, believe me, what I'll tell you will change your life forever.

“It already did; aliens are real. How do I know you won't go and disappear on me?”

“Because I promise you I won't.”

 

It took a couple more minutes to convince Rose but she agreed to head home and to meet him the next day.

 

“Do you always have to bribe them for them to believe you, now?”, asked his former voice when Rose was nowhere to see.

“I did not “bribe” her!”

“You promised her lunch in a fancy restaurant to get her to meet you.”, insisted his former self.

“Rassilon, I forgot how insufferable you were. I begin to understand why Jackie slapped you.”

“Jackie? I don't recall any Jackie. Or being slapped by one, for that matter.”

“And you won't.”

“Why?”

“Spoilers.”

 

He won't remember, because, if he – the current Doctor – had his way, his ninth incarnation would never be slapped by Jackie for he would never meet her.

 

“So, which one are you? I ask 'cause I'll need to prepare psychologically to become a grumpy old man like you. I thought we stopped after the first time around.”

“Well, you're not Mister Happy Face either. And, I'm the fourteenth.”

“Fou... What?! How is that even possible?”, sputtered the former Doctor.

“For starters, we had our numbers wrong. Well, you did, didn't you? You're not really the ninth, aren't you?”

 

The ninth – well, tenth – Doctor gave him the stink eye.

 

“For how it was possible to pass the thirteenth incarnation, I can't say, obviously.”

“But I don't understand. Without the Time Lords, how...”

“I told you: I can't say, so stopped asking. Omega”, the Doctor rubbed his face sighing, “you can't take a hint.”

“So, about the Conscience Nestene?”, asked the former Doctor after a moment.

“It can wait. Tomorrow. After I met with Rose.”

“Why wait? We need to track the signal.”

“No need. I know where it leads.”

“Then why?”

“Because I said so! I'll fetch you when it is time to intervene not a minute sooner.”

 

Convincing his former self was even harder than convince Rose for whom he was a complete stranger. But finally, the two Doctors separated and went their own way.

 

 

The Doctor had been nervous before his meeting with Rose. What if she didn't believe him? What if she didn't like him? What if, by some miracle, she knew what he was trying to achieve by crossing his own timeline? What if he smiled and had salad stuck between his teeth?

Obviously, he didn't had to stress because the young human did believe him and seemed to like him enough if her laugh was to be trusted. She didn't know anything of his plot either. And he didn't eat salad just to be sure.

He showed her the TARDIS who wasn't very happy about this. His ship could be quite temperamental when she wanted to be and he felt her disappointment in his mind. He didn't care.

Later, they met with his former self and all three saved London – and the world – once again. The younger Doctor didn't stay long after that, uncomfortable in the presence of his future self; the Doctor was very happy with it as it let him free to take Rose with him. And when he asked she said yes without hesitation. He grinned like the idiot he thought he wasn't. That fool.

 

 

Somewhere in the blackness of the universe, a crack opened.

 

 

The TARDIS had tried to stopped Rose from entering. She closed her doors just before the human could pass them. She even tried to dematerialise but the Doctor had foreseen that and he ripped the dematerialisation circuit from its socket.

 

"I know.", he responded telepathically to his ship. "I know."

 

It was bad, what he was doing, he knew it, the TARDIS knew it, but he didn't care. He didn't care if his ship was having a temper tantrum, all he wanted was Rose at his side once again.

 

"Please", he pleaded, "let her in."

 

It took nearly five minutes to make her see reason but, reluctantly, the TARDIS opened her doors and let Rose in.

 

“Sorry for the TARDIS, she has quite the temper and she is incredibly jealous.”

 

The TARDIS grunted.

 

“No need to be jealous, beautiful, I won't steal your man. She is so gorgeous, Doctor. I was overwhelmed by her size yesterday, so I didn't notice then, but she truly is gorgeous.”

“Keep talking about her like that and you will be fast friends. You like that, when people fawn over you, don't you, old girl?”

 

The TARDIS purred this time. There, it was better.

 

“So, tell me, Rose. Where do you want to go? Past? Future?”, he asked even if he knew what she would ask for.

“The future. Let's say... A hundred years?

 

He knew it!

 

“Have a little more ambition, we can go further than that. What do you about the fifty-first century? Reckon you might like that?”

“Of course!”

 

She was so enthusiastic; it made him feel much younger. More alive than he felt in a very long time.

 

“So what is so interesting in the fifty-first century, that you decided to take me there for our first travel together?”

“You'll see.”, he smiled.

“Come on, tell me, Doctor!”

“No can do, you'll have to wait. On the bright side, the travel will be fast.”

 

 

Not long after, as they arrived, the Doctor could see that Rose was barely stopping herself from bouncing all over the control room.

 

“We are in the future?”, she asked eagerly.

“Yep. Go on, step outside.”

 

The young woman nearly run to the TARDIS' door and opened it with missing a beat. What she saw made her stop completely.

 

“That's... That's beautiful.”, she stuttered.

“Welcome on Orbis, previously known as Gliese 581g. It was discovered in 2010; well, for the humans, others had found it millennia before that, obviously. It's one of the first human colonies. The very first one outside the Solar System. Funny little planet. It only have one face facing its sun. Therefore, there is no seasons here. Nor day or night. Well, there is day. Only day, all year round. Or night, if you're on the other face but you wouldn't want to do that, as it is uninhabitable. And the days and years are the same thing too; thus a new calendar invented by the colons.”

“Are you always like that?”, Rose cut him.

“Like what?”

“Always talking, talking, talking when you could be enjoying the view.”

“Believe me, I am enjoying it.”

 

It wasn't only the view that he was enjoying, though, the company too was very enjoyable. Omega, how he had missed her!

 

“Do you want to visit?”, he asked.

“What sort of question is that? Of course I want to! So, tell me, Doctor, do you do that often? Travelling through Time and Space, I mean.”

“Every day of my life since I was, what? Maybe three or four hundred years old.”

“Hundred?! How old are you exactly?”

“I'm not quite sure. If I had to make a wild guess I'd say at least two thousand years old. Give or take a few hundred years.”

“You're joking, right?”

“What do you think?”

“That you look quite dashing for such an elderly man.”, she laughed. “So will you give me a tour of the place?”

 

 

The Doctor couldn't stop looking at Rose. She radiated happiness. What was his former self thinking, all those centuries ago, taking her to see the Earth being destroyed? She deserved only beauty and creation, not ugliness, death and destruction. She was born to shine, not to lose herself into darkness.

Well, he had been another man, at the time. He had just fought an impossible war, had lost his friends, his family, his people. He thought he had destroyed his planet. He was lonely and angry; incapable of seeing the beauty of the world. She helped a little, but not enough. And it was why he had lost her in the end.

This time around, he would do anything to keep her happy. This time she would really enjoy herself. And he would enjoy her presence.

 

 

He wanted to take her hand as they strolled around the marketplace but he refrained his impulse to do so and he offered her his arm instead; she took it. The stalls were colourful and a multitude of aromas filled the air around them. The Doctor showed Rose dozens of new vegetables, fruits, flowers and even animals.

 

“See this cage?”, he pointed to her. “The creature in it is an actual dog. An Earth dog, I mean.”

“How can it be an Earth dog? It's blue and... well, it doesn't look like any other dogs I ever saw.”

“Different climate, different atmosphere, different gravitational pull. Those new environmental conditions induced a fast-developing evolution. Even humans began to mutate. But since a lot of them still visit the Earth on a regular basis, the process is far more subtle.”

“I thought evolution took millennia to do its work.”

“I love humans but you are far from the most understanding beings when it comes to the fundamental principals of the evolution theory or any basic scientific theory for that matter. I sometimes wonder how you manage to do anything with such pudding brains.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, it's true.”

 

Some would have been offended by his words but Rose was smiling at him.

 

“And you, as a, what was it, again? A Time Lord, is it?”

 

He and his former self had explain to her were they were from rapidly the day before.

 

“Yes.”

“So, you, as a Time Lord are so much more talented that us humans when it come to science, isn't it?”

“Obviously! Look how you all struggle with basic mathematics. It's ridiculous. I'm quite embarrassed for you.”

“Surely, there is something we humans are better at than Time Lords.”

“Making cakes.”

“OK.”, Rose laughed. “Well, let's see if we can find some cake then.”

 

 

They spent a very pleasant day. After they managed to find cakes (they even had the shiny little spheres on them), they went to the Bouncing Cascade where they picnicked.. Then, the Doctor decided to show the Argonian garden to his companion and things went south.

It wasn't really anybody's fault. Rose had wanted to smell a big red flower, that's all. Who was to know that the so-called flower was in fact the heir to the throne of a nearby empire and that it was prohibited to touch him under any circumstances? Who was to know that failing to stay at a respectable distance from the heir was punish by death? Who was to know that his bodyguards – also flowers – would be so quick to catch them?

They had escaped after spending three hours in a smelly cell with a pair of Orbisian rats for only company. They run.

 

 

They entered the TARDIS laughing and out of breath. For a brief instant, the Doctor thought he heard his name being called. His real name. Then Rose laughed some more and he dismissed the idea. It was ridiculous and Rose's laughter was exquisite.

 

 

Before they knew it, the Doctor and Rose had visited dozens of planets, moons, asteroids, orbital stations. Together, they had encountered countless of historical figures; sometimes helping, sometimes saving them, and other times fighting them. Henri VIII of England was of the later category.

 

 

They had arrived in 1542's England by mistake. Rose hadn't stopped laughing for five long minutes when the Doctor told her where and when they were.

 

“You said... You said we... we... “Let's go visit Europa. The... the moon, not the conti... continent.” you said. Best go... in the thirty-third centu... century.”, she giggled.

“Yeah, yeah, mock me.... At least, we're in Europa. There's always that.”

 

She continued laughing at him, nearly falling over.

 

“Oh, stop it!”

 

 

Rose had finally stopped laughing when they exited the TARDIS and started exploring the surroundings. What they didn't know, was that they were in the gardens of the Palace of Whitehall and more precisely in a zone which access was formally prohibited to anyone who didn't belong to the royal family, as decreed by King Henry VIII, bar a few chosen guards.

What was it with them and gardens? It seemed they always found trouble in those.

They were consequently arrested but not before the king himself, recently widowed after Queen Catherine Howard had been beheaded, came face to face with them. He instantly became besotted with Rose.

The young woman had been given a room of her own at the Palace – which she couldn't exit – while the Doctor was thrown in another smelly and damp cell in the Tower of London. Cell he couldn't escaped for the door was wood-made and his stupid sonic screwdriver refused to work on wood.

 

 

Two days. He had spent two whole days in that cell and couldn't be more happy to escaped it and his inmates – three stupid, even by human standard, highway bandits.

At the end of the second day, the door opened and a guard roughly grabbed him by the arm.

 

“His Majesty wish to speak to you.”, he grumbled. “Move.”

 

 

Apparently, in the last two days, Rose had used the king's lust for her to her advantage and had managed to convinced him that if they were to be married, like he wanted them to be, the Doctor had to be released and brought to the court.

 

“Lord of Tardis.”, called the king as the Doctor was shoved into the throne room.

“Your Majesty, to what do I owe the honour of standing before you?”, the Doctor asked derisively.

 

The monarch didn't seem to understand he was mocked.

 

“Important matters, my good Lord. The most important of them all. My marriage with the exquisite Lady Rose of Powell. I understand that your are her guardian. I am willing to gave you your freedom back if you would agree to a betrothal between myself and your young protégée.”

“Could I consult with Lady Rose in private, your Majesty? It does concern her and I'd like to talk to her before I agree to anything.”

“You will find that Lady Rose is as besotted as I am and very much indeed in favour of our union. But I will allow such a meeting. Guard, take the Lord of Tardis to Lady Rose's room. You have one hour, my good Lord.”

 

 

The Doctor found Rose well if only a little bored. She had been appointed a lady-in-waiting whom she was talking to when the two men entered the room.

 

“Doctor!”

“Rose, are you OK?”

“Yes. Are you?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“You were imprisoned in the Tower of London for two days, for starters.”

“It's far from the first time that I am and I have the intuition that it was not the last either. Would you mind leaving us alone?”, he then asked the guard and the lady-in-waiting. “Shoo, I have to speak to the Lady Rose.”

 

The guard seemed reluctant to let the two strangers alone but the Doctor was posing as a Lord; he couldn't refuse an order from a noble man.

 

“Thanks God you're here, Doctor, I was going crazy in here, alone with Mary. But it was still preferable to the king's visits. That man is a creep. And that breath! I never smelled something that stinks that much. It doesn't even smell like bad breath, it's more like... rotten eggs, maybe?”

“Exactly like rotten eggs. I fear King Henry is not who he seems. I always suspected he wasn't himself for a good portion of his reign. I had wanted to go and see myself if I was correct but never had the occasion before.”

“What do you mean “he's not himself”?”

“Oh, just that an alien – a Raxacoricofalapatorian, I reckon – has taken the form and place of your King Henry VIII. Though I have no idea why.”

“What do we do, then?”, asked Rose like if it was everyday that you learned that one of the best known kings of England was actually an alien.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.”, confirmed the Doctor. “If we remove this imposter from the throne it would change History as Henry VIII dies five years from know. And the reign of Henry VIII is a fixed point; nobody can – or should – change a fixed point under any circumstances. Not if oneself doesn't want to destroyed the reality itself.”

“So what, now?”

“We run.”, suggested the Doctor with a grin. “We go back to the TARDIS. Unless you want to be the next Queen of England?”

“We run.”, confirmed Rose before taking the Time Lord hand.

 

 

Fixed points shouldn't be changed under any circumstances, he told Rose. He should have remembered that before he took the young woman with him, stealing her from his former self.

 

 

He didn't noticed at first. Then, he did everything he could to disregard the signs. But when the dreams came he couldn't ignore it any more. The dreams and the double-layers memories. He knew then. Well, he had always knew what would come but had decided that he didn't care. Even after the dreams he still didn't care.

He didn't care that Time was rewriting itself and that the consequences would be disastrous.

 

 

_At first, it was just a small impression that something was off. I happened when he met his future self at Hendricks. He felt it wasn't supposed to happen; but you never were supposed to meet your others incarnations – even if he did more than once before – or cross your own timeline. But then he left and the sensation was still here, nagging at the back of his head. He learned to live with it._

_Then he had met Jabe and the feeling of wrongness came back, stronger than ever. He wasn't supposed to travel with her, he felt. But why? Unable to find a good reason to stop, he had continued to explore Time and Space with his new companion._

_Jabe was good for him, helping him, grounding him when he were losing his temper. Which was a regular occurrence as he had been so damn angry at the time. He was angry all the time. Angry against himself for what he had done to stop the Time War. Angry against the Daleks for existing and always surviving. Angry against the Time Lords themselves for their absence._

_Jabe had helped a good deal._

_But what had helped the most was the memory of the young woman he had met at the same time he had encountered his future self. The memory of her smile had done wonders. But why? What was so special about her? She had only been another human, hadn't she?_

 

 

Time was rewriting itself. The past was changing. Because of him. But he didn't care. After all, Jabe had travelled with him when she should have die on Satellite 5. The changes he caused were the reason she survived. On one side, he – the current Doctor – had Rose by his sides, on the other side, a life had been saved. It felt a lot like a win-win situation.

 

 

It wasn't.

 

 

“Doctor!”, screamed Rose, hanging from a bookshelf, trying with all her strengths not to let go.

 

In the next room, the Time Lord was jumping from a piece of furniture to another piece of furniture, what looked like a perfume bottle in his hand, spaying all over the floor as he progressed.

 

“Hang on, Rose, I'm coming. Well, as soon as I will have eliminated this one.”

 

 

“Why am I not surprised that this is not Ancient Egypt?”, teased Rose.

“Go on, make fun of me, but we are in Cairo. Where I said we would be.”

“Yeah. You also said we would meet Cleopatra. I'm pretty sure we're a bit late for that. What I'm wondering is by how many years.”

“Two thousands and forty-seven. Give or take a few months. Yeah, yeah, laugh at me.”

“Come on, Doctor, you know it's funny.”, sniggered Rose.

“Maybe a little bit.”, laughed the Time Lord. “Though it's a bit of a pity; I would have love for you to meet good old Cleo. I'm pretty sure you would have gone along splendidly. You're just as cheeky as she is.”

“Me? Cheeky? Nah...”

“Who was mocking me not two minutes ago?”

“Me, but only because you pretended to be the best pilot in the whole universe and then managed to be more than two thousands years late.”

 

The Doctor grumbled some more.

 

“Oh, don't pout, Doctor.”

“I don't “pout”, thank you very much. Kids pout, I certainly am not a...”

 

The Time Lord was interrupted by a shrill cry nearby. Facing the direction from where came the scream, they saw a young girl, no older than sixteen, fleeing a house, crying. They both started to run in her direction.

 

“What happened?”, asked the Doctor while he put his sonic sunglasses on.

 

He might have missed Cleo by a few millennia, but it seemed like he would be busy nonetheless.

 

“They killed Jasmine!”, cried the young girl. “They killed Jasmine! The ghosts! They killed her!”

 

“Ghosts”? Images passed through his mind. Memories of his former self facing the Gelths, Jabe at his side. Gwyneth sacrificing herself to save the world. Charles Dickens. Cardiff. Then the memory changed and he was back at the Powell Estate, in Jackie's apartment, waiting for another kind of ghost. The memory wasn't changed yet. Everything was as he remembered. Then the ghosts turned to be Cybermen. Torchwood. The lever.

 

“No!”, he shouted.

“Doctor? Doctor, what is it?”, asked Rose.

“What? Oh, nothing. Don't worry.”

“I don't believe you but OK. Did you heard what Aicha said or were you to lost in your thoughts?”

“As a matter of fact I... No, I didn't heard.”

“Can you repeated to the Doctor what you told me, Aicha?”, questioned Rose.

 

And she did. She explained how her friend was attacked by an invisible creature, how the other girl had been drained of her blood in a matter of seconds. How she was attacked herself but managed to escaped with only some bite marks on her ankle to show. Two little bloody holes a few millimetres apart.

The Doctor scanned the wound with his sonic sunglasses and gasped.

 

“That's impossible!”

“What is it, Doctor?”

“Impossible, that's what it is. The creature who attacked Aicha and her friend doesn't exist. It can't!”, he exclaimed frantically. “They never existed.”

“Visibly they do, Doctor.”

“You don't understand, Rose. Those are myths. Gallifreyan myths. Stories created to frighten young Time Lords and Ladies. They're like your Bogeyman. They are called Crowleys. They are the main characters of numerous legends., horror stories. They're supposed to be invisible and intangible. It was said they lived under pieces of furniture and fed on blood. One of the stories said that they had a physical form similar to the Time Lords but could only move by crawling. Another story stated that if they straightened too much, they would become visible and tangible. Only in this form they would be harmless. It was also said that, on the floor, they could exsanguine an adult body in a twenty-seventh of a second. But they never existed. Those are all myths and legends.”

“But, I don't understand. What is it that attacked Aicha and Jasmine.”

“I don't know.”, he sighed. “A Boggart, maybe? They tend to make themselves appeared as other creepers.”

“Boggart? As in Harry Potter's Boggarts? Those exist?”

“I told J.K. she couldn't use things we saw for her stories but did she listened to me? No!”

“J.K. Rowling travelled with you?!”

“Only for a few weeks.”

“You know J.K. Rowling?”, insisted Rose.

“Obviously. Now would you be kind enough to shut up? I'm trying to think. Thank you.”

 

The Doctor started to mumbled so rapidly that Rose wasn't able to understand the third of what he was saying. He was also pacing back and forth.

It was only after nearly six minutes that he stood still and stop talking.

 

“Doctor? Do you know what we are dealing with?”

“No. No idea.”

“So...”

“So we will have to go and see for ourselves. But first, we need to go back to the TARDIS. Come, Rose. Aicha, you stay here.”

 

 

“Take this.”, said the Doctor.

“What is it?”, questioned Rose looking at the spray bottle he gave her.

“Creeper repulsive. Be careful, it is quite corrosive if applied to human skin. As soon as we enter the house, you start spraying it around you. And you climb on a piece of furniture the instant you're able to.”

“Understood.”

“Then, if you are ready, let's go.”

“Let's.”, confirmed Rose.

 

They entered the house rapidly.

 

“I can feel it.”, murmured the Doctor. “One of the creature is near. Spray on your left, quickly!”

 

As soon as Rose had used the spray, an angry hissing sound was heard. The Time Lord pushed his companion in the next room.

 

“Hop on the table!”, he ordered.

“Doctor, do you know what those creatures are, now?”, asked Rose once they were perched on the piece of furniture.

“Crowleys. I don't know how that's possible, but they are. Stay here, I need to go back to the other room. Continue spraying. No, wait.”, he rummaged in his pockets. “Take that. Do not let it touch you skin or even your clothes! This would dissolve any Crowley it would reached. Do not move from this table.”

 

The Doctor took a new spray bottle himself, jump from the table and run out the room. Back in the first room, a living-room, he hopped on a armchair and started spraying the solvent. He knew one of the Crowleys was mere feet away. He tried to locate it using his sonic sunglasses but the creature was fast and constantly moving. He jumped on the sofa, then on the coffee table. Were was this abomination?

 

“How can you be here?”, he asked loudly. “How can you even exist? How can Gallifreyan mythical creatures be on Earth of all places? And why? It doesn't make sense!”

“Remember the Toclafanes.”, came a hissing answer.

“There isn't any Toclafanes! Never was! Those were engineered human-based creatures.”, he lost his temper. “Toclafanes are just as real as you are; which is: not real at all!”

“Remember the Toclafanes.”

 

Still jumping from a piece of furniture to the next one, spraying and scanning, the Doctor was wondering what the Crowley meant by “Remember the Toclafanes”. What was the connection between the two? Aside from the obvious, which was their non-existence, he couldn't think of any realistic explanation. What was troubling him was that his collected data were unanimous: those so-called Crowleys were of Gallifreyan origin. But how? Even if they weren't real Crowleys and had been created by someone, their creator was, if not on, at least from Gallifrey. But who would create such a thing? And why?

Well, he knew who would be able to. But was she even still alive? He hadn't seen her since at least a pair of centuries before the Time War. And if she was alive and out of Gallifrey, why would she created Crowleys of all things? She never needed a reason to give life to monsters but each and every one of them had served a purpose.

 

“Who created you? Was it the Rani?”

“Nobody. No Rani. Remember the Toclafanes.”

“Stop, repeati...”

“Doctor!”, came the panicked voice of Rose from the other room.

“Hang on, Rose, I'm coming. Well, as soon as I will have eliminated this one.”

 

Splitting had been a good idea at the moment, they could deal with twice as many Crowleys at a time that if they had stick together, but now, with Rose screaming in the next room, he saw the fault in his plan. He needed to find a way to get rid of the creatures and quick. And his solvent spray bottle was nearly empty, great!

 

“Doctor, hurry!”

“I do what I can!”, he yelled back to her.

 

If only those things decided to become visible (and therefore tangible) he could be able to do something. But how?

He knew there was a way, he just knew it. Something simple. Something obvious. He was pretty sure there was something about a way to make them straighten up in the legends. But he just couldn't remember; those stories never interested him that much. That was Koschei who had been obsessed with those. If only he had paid more attention when his old friend had been rambling about it, back at the Academy.

 

“Think!”, he admonished himself.

 

Yes! That was so obvious. Why did those creatures lived under pieces of furniture and generally in dark places? Because they couldn't stand the ultraviolet light. Laughing nearly maniacally, he took his ultraviolet torch from his pocket. A furious hiss on his left revealed the position of the Crowley. A Crowley who was rapidly straightening, becoming more and more visible. As soon as it was standing on its feet, he sprayed it, dissolving it.

 

“I'm coming, Rose!”, he called.

 

 

“So, those creatures existed without being real? How is that even possible?”

“I have no idea. Someone who is familiar with the stories may have created them. I suspect an old friend – or enemy I guess – to be behind it. If she is responsible for it, I will find her.”

 

 

He wouldn't.

 

 

The Doctor had spent days looking for proofs of the presence of the Rani on Earth but he couldn't find any. Meanwhile, Rose had explored another market and had bought gifts for her mother. When she told the Time Lord she wanted to deliver them soon, he wasn't what one would call enthusiastic.

 

“Why don't you want to meet my mother? You don't even know her and yet you are judging her.”

“I just don't meet mothers.”

“Tough! We are going back to London and we are going to my mother's.”, she insisted crossing her arms above her chest. “I miss her and she deserves to know what I'm up to.”

“Fine, but I'm not liking it.”

“I don't ask you to.”

 

 

Jackie screeched when the TARDIS materialised in her living-room.

 

“Shut up, Jackie!”, called the Doctor as soon as he exited the ship.

“Doctor, behave!”, admonished Rose.

“What...”, started Jackie.

“Hello mum.”

“How did you...? You... What?”

 

The Doctor grumbled and Rose sent him a look that made him stopped.

 

“Mum, this grumpy old man is...”

“Old! I look barely older than you!”

“Shut up, Doctor. As I was saying this very grumpy _old_ man is the Doctor and this blue box is the TARDIS. It's a spaceship.”

“Oh, don't be silly, Rose! Spaceship, really? Do you think I'm dumb enough to believe it?”

“I do.”, intervened the Time Lord.

“I told you to shut it and to behave, I won't say it again. Mum, I am serious. I spent the last three months travelling in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Come and see.”, said Rose while opening the door of the ship.

“What three months? I saw you not three hours ago.”

 

The Doctor refrained to say anything but he wasn't keen on the idea of having Jackie entering the TARDIS. Jackie, on the other end, followed her daughter inside the ship even if she thought Rose was playing with her.

 

“It's bigger on the inside!”, came a scream of surprise from inside the TARDIS.

 

The Doctor let the two women to their exploration and scouted about the apartment. He was in Rose's bedroom browsing her shelves, looking at pictures of her and her friends, when the young woman and her mother found him.

 

“You're always telling me not to wander off, and yet I turn my back for less than five minutes and you have disappeared. Oh, I should take some of those for my room in the TARDIS.”, Rose added pointing to the photographies. “And pack some clothes too.”

“You don't intend to go back in this thing with this old fella, do you?”

“Yes, she does!”, retorted the Doctor. “And stop calling me old, both of you!”

“The Hell, she does! You won't take my daughter in your whatever-it's-called! She's only nineteen, she doesn't have any business gallivanting only God knows where with a fifty-pushing-sixty old man, you perv!”

“Mum!”, tried to intervened Rose but she wasn't quick enough to stopped what happened next.

 

SLAP!

 

The Doctor froze. He couldn't believe it! She slapped him! Again! What was it, a fixed point? Whatever he did, whatever he said, was he doomed to be slapped by Jackie Tyler of all people? Couldn't it be at least someone cooler, like Joan Jett or the scary (but definitively cool) lady from the Tesco on the Moon?

 

“Mum, stop it! And Doctor, don't you start!”, she shouted at him when he opened his mouth to talk. “I am not a kid anymore, and I can fight my battles alone, thank you very much. And I can make my own decisions and my own choices. And I'm choosing to travel with the Doctor, mum. I can't stay here anymore. Not after all the things I saw, all the people I met. I can't go back to my old life. I just can't.”

“But your life is here, Rose.”

“What life? I don't have a job anymore and my so-called boyfriend would rather go to the pub or stay in front of the telly than spending time with me. When Henricks exploded, instead of staying with me, he went to the pub to watch a match. I could have die and all he was thinking about was the damn footie.”

 

Mickey truly had been an idiot back then, thought the Doctor. Thankfully, he would grow up and become a hero, a defender of the Earth.

 

 

No, he wouldn't. Not really.

 

 

They had stay for dinner and it was one of the worst couple of hours that the Doctor had ever lived. Or so he claimed; but Rose had seen him trying not to smile at Jackie's antics. He was insisting too much that he disliked her and Rose knew he was only pretending to do so. And he knew she knew. He was an idiot.

 

 

They picked up the distress call just as they left the Powell Estate.

 

“Great! Right in a middle of a Dalek fleet. Still, it couldn't be worse than your mother's pot roast.”

“If it was that bad, how come you asked for second and third servings, then?”

“I was being polite!”

“Sure, you were. 'Cause that's what you are: polite.”, sniggered Rose.

“Oh, do shut up.”

“OK Mister Politeness. So, what are Daleks?”

“The most despicable beings in existence. Some of the most dangerous one too. I told you about the Time War; those were the creatures my people fought.”

“And we're just gonna pop in?”

“It's OK to be afraid.”

“Afraid? With you? Never. I know you'll always have my back.”

 

The Doctor sighed. She was too sure he would always be able to save her, that nothing bad could happen to her if she was with him. He wanted to be this great hero she thought he was. But he knew he wasn't. He couldn't stop her being suck into the Void back when he wore Converse and used too much gel air; without Pete, she would have die and he couldn't have done anything about it.

 

“Rose, listen to me. You can't put that much trust in me. I swear to do all in my power to protect you but one day I may be unable to do so. I'm not infallible. And you should be afraid to go in the middle of a Dalek fleet. I am.”

 

Rose looked at him with disbelief in her eyes.

 

“You can't be afraid. You're the Doctor! You're the one scaring people.”

“And I am afraid. Afraid is good, Rose. It makes your heart beat faster, it makes you faster. Afraid is what could save your life someday or another. I know you're brave but don't be afraid to be afraid.”

“I lied. I'm a bit scared.”

“Good! Now, where was I? Oh yes, materialising on a ship about to be destroyed by ruddy Daleks.”

 

 

The Wasp Delta exploded the instant the TARDIS finished to materialised around a young soldier. The girl regained consciousness nearly immediately and scrambled to her feet, a hand pistol pointing alternatively at the Doctor and Rose.

 

“You'll feel a bit sick. Please don't be.”

“Doctor, be nice. Hi, I'm Rose, and this is the Doctor. Don't mind him. You're safe now.”

“Where's my brother? He was right beside me. Where's Kai? How did I get here.”

“We materialised a time capsule exactly round you and saved your life one second before your ship exploded, but do please keep crying.”

“Down, Doctor. Let me handle this. What's your name?”, asked Rose to the soldier.

“Lieutenant Journey Blue of the Combined Galactic Resistance. I demand you take me back to my command ship, the Aristotle.”

“We will.”, promised Rose.

“No, we don't. Not if she doesn't asked correctly. And especially if she doesn't drop the gun.”

“Yeah, dropping the gun might be a good idea. Journey, we will help you but you have to stop threatening us. We're not the enemy. And we did save your life.”

 

Journey Blue reluctantly lowers her gun, tears still rolling down her face.

 

“Would you take me back to my ship? Please?”

“There. Isn't it better? The Aristotle, right?”

“Yes.”

 

The Doctor sets coordinates and the TARDIS dematerialised.

 

“On our way.”

 

 

The TARDIS landed inside the Aristotle with her usual whooshing noise. The three passengers exited the ship and were immediately met with guns pointed to their faces. Well, at the Doctor's and Rose's faces, at least.

 

“Medical insignia. It's a hospital so why are you pointing guns at us?”

“We don't need hospitals now.”, answer what look like a colonel. “The Daleks don't leave any wounded, and we don't take any prisoner.”

“We saved your little friend here, if that's any way relevant to mention.”, responded the Doctor.

“That's true, sir”, confirmed Journey. “They did.”

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome. I wish we could've done more.”

“Then you should have.”

 

Rose opened her mouth to respond but the Doctor shook his head to stop her.

 

“But you did save Journey, and for that I am personally grateful. However, the security of this base is absolute. So we'll still going to kill you.”

“What?!”, cried Rose. “Why?”

“Oh, it's a roller coaster with you, isn't it?”, dead-panned the Doctor.

“I'm sorry. You might be duplicates.”

“He's a doctor”, intervened Journey. “And we have a patient, don't we, Uncle?”

 

 

The Doctor and Rose had been led to a laboratory.

 

“Wow! A moleculon nanoscaler.”, said the Time Lord, excited.

“What's this?”, asked Rose, amused by the Doctor's enthusiasm.

“It miniaturises living matter. What's the medical application, though?”, he asked the soldiers. “Do you use it to shrink the surgeons so they can climb inside the patients?”

“Exactly.”

“Fantastic idea for a movie. Terrible idea for a proctologist. Are you going to miniaturise me?”

“You're a doctor, aren't you? And this is your patient.”

 

The Doctor looked at the creature the soldier pointed then he took a few steps back, taking Rose with him. No. It couldn't be possible. They couldn't expect him to enter... that. Never in a billion years. He was starting to panic when he felt Rose's hand in his own.

 

“Doctor? Are you OK?”

 

The Time Lord didn't answer his companion, instead, he turned to the supposed-colonel.

 

“You can't put me in here.”

“Doctor, what is it?”, insisted Rose.

“A Dalek.”

“Doc-tor?”, asked the robotic voice of the so-called patient.

“How do you know who I am?”

“He doesn't? We promised him medical assistance.”

“Are you – my – doooctor?”

 

The Doctor tuned the conversation off. He didn't care what those pudding-brained soldiers were saying. They couldn't expect he would let them put him inside that abomination. Rose tightened her grip on his hand.

 

“... started screaming.”

“Help – me.”

“Why would I do that? Why would any living creature help you?”

“Daleks – will die.”

“Die all you like. Not my problem.”

“Daleks must be des – troyed.”

“Daleks must be des...”

 

What?! Did the Dalek said what he thought he did?

 

“What did you just say?”

“All Daleks must – die. I will dest – royed the Daaaaleks. Destroy the Daaaaleks! Destroy the Daaaaleks!”

 

That was new.

 

 

But was it new enough to convinced him to enter the Dalek and help him?

 

 

“Doctor, what do we do?”

“A Dalek so damaged, it has turned good. Morality as malfunction. How do I resist?”

 

It was the right thing to do, or so he tried to convinced himself.

 

“So they shrink us and we go inside the Dalek?”

“No. They shrink _me_ and _I_ go inside the Dalek while you stay here. It's not safe in there.”

“What? No! I'm coming with you!”

“No, you don't!”

 

 

“I hate you.”, came the voice of Rose from outside Rusty the Dalek.

“I know. But it's for your security.”

“Yeah... But I still hate you.”

 

She could protest all she wanted, she could pretend to hate him, but all he heard was Rose outside of the most dangerous place of the Universe and it was all that he wanted; Rose relatively out of harm's reach.

 

 

The damaged to Rusty's shell wasn't a difficult one to repair once the little team had reached the right place.

 

“No more radiation poisoning. Good as new. There. Job done. Rusty? How do you feel? Rusty? Rusty?”

“The malfunction is corrected.”

“What's happening?”, asked Journey.

“Not entirely sure.”

“It's like it's waking up.”

“Rusty, come on, talk to me”, pressed the Doctor. “What's going on?”

“The malfunction is corrected. All systems are functioning. Weapons charged.”

“Oh, no, no, no. Rose run! Go back to the TARDIS!”

“What's happening, Doctor?”

“RUN!”

“Exterminate! Exterminate!”

 

 

It had been tricky but the Doctor – with Journey and Gretchen, the other survivor of their little band of misfits – had managed to turn Rusty back to his prior state of relative goodness.

 

“Death to the Daleks” had repeated Rusty over and over before he had attacked his pairs while the Doctor and the two soldiers had exited his armour.

 

“Doctor!”

 

The Time Lord found his arms full of a worried Rose.

 

“I thought you were dead, you stupid man!”

“And I thought I told you to go back to the TARDIS!”

“And let people be killed? You know I couldn't leave them.”

“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose... What we'll I do with you?”

“Keep me by your side, and stop leaving me on the side lines, would be great.”

“I just don't want you to be hurt. I won't let you be hurt. I would never do anything that could harm you.”, he promised.

 

 

I was too late, she was – as everyone and everything else was – in greater danger than ever. She just happened to be in the eye of the cyclone.

 

 

It was the calling of his name that woke him up. Not his chosen name, not even the one he had used back at the Academy; no, it was the one he had been given when he exited the looming machine. A name nobody knew except his older friends; not even all the members the Deca had knew it. Koschei, Ushas, Mortimus and Magnus had been the only ones who were close enough friends to learn it. As for the voice that had called him, he couldn't place it. He had the feeling that he knew whom it belong to but something was blocking the memory. It was a deep and yet ethereal feminine voice which radiated power. He felt fear wash all over him.

When half an hour had passed without hearing the voice, he convinced himself he had dreamed it.

 

 

He hadn't.

 

 

“Keep you eyes shot. No cheating.”, said the Doctor as he guided Rose out of the TARDIS.

 

It was her birthday – or so she thought since keeping track of time when jumping all over time was quite difficult for a human – and he had decided to surprise her. He remembered having thinking to take her here back when he wore leather and had a serious case of dumbo-like ears. Unfortunately, he never had the occasion or time to do so.

He led her a bit further from the ship, and when he had been satisfied with the view it would present, he told her she could finally open her eyes.

 

“A circus?”, she smiled. “I love the circus!”

“Not just any circus. The Circus. Remember when I told you about The Library?”

 

What a difficult discussion it had been, what with all the memories of River and Donna that had resurfaced.

 

“Yes.”

“Well, this is kind of the same thing. As The Library was an entire planet which the sole purpose was to be a library, The Circus is a circus the size of a moon. That was an explanation full of repetition, wasn't it? I'm not sure I like it.”

“I don't know about your explanation but I do love your gift. Thank you, Doctor!”, exclaimed Rose before she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

“Yeah, yeah, now get off me.”

“Be grumpy all you like; nothing you can do or say will spoil my good mood. Not today. Oh, I'm loving it already!”

“I'm glad you like it. So, your choice, where do you want to start?”

“Depends. How many hours can we spend here? There are some attraction I want to see absolutely; can't miss it because we run out of time.”

“We can stay as long as you please. We could stay for weeks if you wanted.”

“Then, I don't care what we see first. Maybe clowns? Are there clowns?”

“Are there clowns, she asks! What kind of circus would it be if there weren't any clown?”

“Shut up, and take me to see the clowns”.

 

 

When she asked him to take her to the clowns, Rose probably didn't thought that it would take them must of the day. There were so many kind of clowns! Some she wouldn't have categorize as such in a million years. The Judoons ones were not what she imagined she'd see when she made her demand to the Doctor. They certainly wasn't funny in the human sense of the word. The Draconian ones on the other side had been hilarious and she had to exit the tent to calm herself. The Doctor had followed her happily; he wasn't very fond of clowns – or circus for that matter. Who was he kidding? He hated anything circus-y (though he might have like it in some previous incarnation), but Rose loved it; so, of course he had had to bring her here.

 

 

They spent the night in the magic-themed hotel near the clowns tents. The Doctor had wanted to go back to the TARDIS but Rose had insisted and he couldn't refuse her anything.

 

 

The next day, the young woman asked to go and see horse-riding spectacles. Once again it wasn't what she had asked for, since there weren't any horse on The Circus but she seemed to enjoy the shows nonetheless and it was all that mattered.

 

 

It was their third day on the little moon that everything went sour.

For starters, the hotel they had stayed in – this one was clown-themed – haven't had any marmalade left which caused the Doctor to sulk for all the duration of their breakfast.

Then, the Time Lord had been accidentally shoved by a man as they exited the hotel.

 

“Excuse me. Very sorry.”, the stranger said with an accent the Doctor couldn't place. Maybe east-European? The man then run, limping.

 

A few seconds later, the Doctor collapsed, overwhelmed by a new wave of changing memories.

 

_He woke up, disoriented. For a couple of minutes he tried to remembered where he was and what had happened. Then it hit him. Satellite 5. The Delta Wave. Jabe and Jack. And apparently, he had regenerated while unconscious._

_What did he do? How could he?_

_He knew he didn't had a choice but it didn't minimize the horror of his acts. He knew he had had to use the Delta Wave to stop the Daleks, but at what price?_

_He hated himself. He hated himself worse than he ever hated anyone or anything. Even the Daleks didn't inspired him such a level of hatred. He disgusted himself._

_Because of him billions of humans had perish. Half of Asia, the entirety of the Pacific Islands and Oceania had been destroyed. Jabe and Jack were long dead when he used his horrible weapon; in a way, he was relieved that they didn't saw him commit another genocide._

_Feeling guilty, he avoided the Earth for more than a century. But he knew that sooner or later he would have to face his demons so he went back on what had always been his favourite planet. Only a few months had passed on Earth but it was so different than the last time he visited it that he thought he wasn't, in fact, on Earth. Except he was._

_The planet was devastated by the later invasion that the Earth had underwent. The Sycorax had made use of the chaos the planet was in after they used blood samples to manipulate humans, and had reduced them to slavery. People were forced to work in mines and weapons factories, for the Sycorax who had the ambition to enslave the galaxy._

_It was his fault. He had deserted the planet and wasn't here when it needed his help._

_Thankfully, a resistance had emerged – helped by UNIT. It took months but with his help, the humans were finally free of the Sycorax._

_He had spent a century thinking that avoiding the Earth was what he needed to do, but he had been wrong once again. Now, he promised that he would protect the planet against alien menaces. He also promised himself that he would not let his new companion, Ianto – a young member of the resistance – be harmed because of him._

 

 

He gulped as he came to his senses.

 

“Doctor?”, called Rose frantically. “Doctor, do you hear me?”

“No. No, no, no, no, no.”

 

The Time Lord got up suddenly and emptied his stomach without prelude.

 

“You alright? What happened?”

“I... I...”

“Doctor?”

“Rose?”

“I'm here, Doctor.”

“Rose...”

 

Rose! It was her absence that caused him – his leather-wrapped former self – to use the Delta Wave. Without the Bad Wolf, he didn't have any more options. Without the Bad Wolf, Jack never came back to life.

What did he do?

 

“Oh, Rose. I...”

 

He couldn't continue like that. He had put the Earth in danger by his actions. He had to let Rose go; he needed to send her back home before he caused more damages. But he would let her enjoy one more day on The Circus.

 

“Don't worry, Rose.”

 

 

The Doctor kept his decision to himself and asked her where she wanted to go next.

 

“What's this one for?”, she questioned, pointing to a big purple tent.

“Something dangerous. Probably animal training.”

“I guess it's not lions or tigers?”

“You guess well.”

“Let's see it then!”

 

The exterior of the tent looked like any other one, but as soon as they entered, the Doctor and Rose noted that it was, in fact, not like the other ones.

 

“That's what I call security. Isn't it a bit extreme, though? What kind of animals do they train here?”

“I don't think we'll see any animal training in here. I presumed it was based on the colour of the tent.”

“What, then?”

“I don't know. We'll see.”

 

They didn't have to wait long. Less than two minutes after they has sit down, a force field rose around the track. Then, Transmat beams appeared.

 

“Oh no.”

 

In the centre of the track now stood a Dalek, a Mechanoid and a Cyberman.

 

“Definitively not animal training.”, stated Rose.

“Definitively not”, confirmed the Doctor. “It's an arena. A circus in the Roman sense of the word.”

“You mean, like in Gladiator? The movie?”, specified Rose when the Time Lord looked at her questioningly.

“Never heard of it. But, yes, this is a bit like a gladiator fight. Creatures are kidnapped all over the universe and transported in here to fight. Why does it remind me of something?”

 

Oh. Yes, that time when he was so fond of cricket. Or was it when he played this annoying recorder? Maybe both. It was so long ago, details were a bit blurry.

 

“This can't end well.”, said the Doctor as he watched the Dalek and Cyberman destroy the Mechanoid.

 

His fear was confirmed not long after when the force field failed and the two creatures escaped.

 

“Exterminate! Exterminate!”

“Del – ete.”

 

People started to scream and run all over the place, trying to escape the tent. Rose rushed to help a woman and her son, while the Doctor faced the Dalek and Cyberman. He needed to stop them.

 

 

No without difficulty, the Doctor had managed to reverse the Transmat beam and had sent the Dalek back where it came from – the Cyberman had been destroyed by the other creature not long after the failing of the force field.

 

 

He hadn't say a word when Rose had asked him when they headed next. He couldn't say to her that he intended to leave her on Earth. Not yet.

Hell, he didn't want to leave her at all, but the Earth – and the Universe – was in danger because of his selfishness. Billions of strangers were dead because of it. Jack was dead because of it. He had to let her go. He had to.

He had to, but he couldn't look at her.

 

 

At the end of the universe, a man regained consciousness.

 

 

“No!”, screamed Rose. “No, you can't! Doctor! Don't leave me!”

 

She was pounding against the TARDIS' door, crying. Inside the ship, the Doctor was shaking and fighting his own tears. His trembling fingers couldn't activated the control buttons and levers quick enough and he had to hear every one of her pleading cries. The TARDIS, always so opinionated on the subject of Rose's presence aboard, was trying to soothe him. No matter how wrong it had been, she knew the Doctor had been happy with the young human.

 

“Doctor! Please!”

 

He had asked her if she wanted to go and visit her mother and she, as expected, had responded by the affirmative. Once again, they had materialised right in the middle of Jackie's living-room. When she went to exit the ship he had followed her, but as soon as she had she passed the doors, he closed them with just a simple “I'm sorry”. He couldn't even explain to her why, ashamed as he was.

He finally managed to enter the coordinates he wanted and the TARDIS dematerialised. Her cries stopped; or at least he ceased to heard them.

 

 

The Eye of Orion used to be his favourite place in the universe; his to-go place when he was stressed and needed a release from his life of adventures. It wasn't anymore. It was too calm, too quiet, too deserted. Too Rose-less. His thoughts were too easily heard in this silent environment.

Why did he was so attached to her? She was only a human. How had she come such an important part of his considerably long life?

Look where his attachment – he refused to use any other word and certainly not one that started with a “L” - had led him. It couldn't be healthy. So he had run; it seemed to be his default response to anything anyway.

 

 

He had left the Eye of Orion after only a few hours; he had gone there to relax but it had had the opposite effect, so why stay? Now alone in the TARDIS, he hesitated about what to do and where/when to go.

He could always try again to find the Rani – he still needed to know the truth about the Crowleys after all – but he couldn't bother.

Or he could do some maintenance work; the old girl was not in her best state. But once again, he didn't felt like it.

So, he took residence in the library slash swimming-pool for the next month, sleeping there as well, in the hammock the TARDIS provided when it had became apparent he wouldn't go back to his bedroom anytime soon.

 

 

The TARDIS was patient but when he started his second month locked up in the library doing nothing else than brooding, she took matters in her metaphorical hands. She hated to see him like that, broken, miserable. And, frankly, he was insufferable these days.

She had intercepted a distress signal and had materialised on the attacked ship and nagged him until he accepted to go and help the crew. He wasn't very enthusiastic at first but when he came back some time later, looking for some knick-knack he needed, he was nearly bouncing from excitement.

 

 

The TARDIS was a nuisance but she had been right to force him to rejoin the rest of the universe and he was glad he had her looking after him, since it seemed he was unable to do so himself. She always did and he sometimes wondered how she managed to put up with him for so long; he knew he could be a right prat.

After his saving of the distressed ship, he had more energy and will to do something that he had had in the last month and he ran all over time and space, never stopping long in one place before leaving for another.

Of course, he missed Rose dearly and spent every minute of calm thinking of her, but then he remembered what her presence by his side had caused; when those memories came, he promptly set random coordinates on the control board, hoping to find something that would help to keep his mind occupied.

 

 

It worked. At least for a couple of months.

 

 

The dreams came back.

At first, they were just fleeting images, appearing randomly in otherwise normal dreams; Lady Cassandra taunting him wearing Ianto's face, Queen Victoria turning into a massive wolf, a beheaded Madame de Pompadour at the feet of a clockwork robot, and such.

He thought they were his fears of destroying time further that found a way in his dreams. They were. Well, some of them, at least. Some others were very real, unfortunately.

 

 

_After they send the Sycorax back from where they went and UNIT decided to play the hero and blow them up (he would have to find who was the dumbass who gave that particular order), the Doctor and Ianto,did in fact ended in New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York (New New york would have to do, he guessed, it was quite tenuous to repeat all those “New”). They also faced Lady Cassandra who took a special interest in Ianto and indeed took over his body. Cat nuns were arrested, a new life form had been freed and Lady Cassandra had learned the value of life; it had been a good day all things considered._

_What had not been such-as-good a night, was the one they had spent in Scotland with Queen Victoria, a werewolf and lunatic monks slash martial arts masters. The werewolf himself had been vanquished (with its help, more or less) but not before the Empress of India had been infected. After this incident, he had sensed the Time changing slightly; it appeared that humans were given access to space travel back in the end of the nineteenth century. Some consequence of the contamination of Queen Victoria by the wolf._

_And why did the word “wolf” had such an effect on him? Every time he heard it, he felt like it should mean something to him; something important and marvellous if only a bit frightful. Earlier, Ianto had affirmed he wasn't “afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” and both the Doctor's hearts had stopped for a second. What was he missing? He had knew something was off for quite some time now, since he met his future self, in fact, but he couldn't pinpoint what. And what was the relationship with the word “wolf”?_

 

 

The Doctor woke up with a scream. No. Absolutely no. it couldn't be possible. Why was the time still changing, he had took Rose back to her...

Oh. Of course, how didn't he had think of that, what a dimwit he was! He had took her back, yes, but she never travelled with his former self. It wasn't the fact that she was with him that was problematic but her absence by his former self's side. He had been so stupid. Not only had he disrupted time, History itself, but he also had left Rose behind for nothing. He had hurt her for nothing.

He knew what needed to be done to fix everything; he needed to let Rose and his leather-wrapped past self meet as it should had happened. But he couldn't bear the thought, knowing that Rose would be lost to him then, first to his former selves, then to the other universe. He was sure he could find another way to put everything back without losing Rose once again.

He also was sure that since things were still changing, there was no reason for him to stay away from Rose and that he could – and should – go back to her.

 

 

SLAP!

 

Come on! He hadn't even completely emerged from the TARDIS that he was already assaulted by a screaming Jackie Tyler. He had only opened the doors when a hard hand had met his left cheek.

 

SLAP!

 

“Stop hitting me, for God's sake!”

“You made my daughter cry!”

“So what? You'll keep slapping me until I do too?”

“Why not?”, Jackie responded, her head raised again ready to strike him.

“Stop, mum.”

 

The Doctor startled. He hadn't seen her behind the wild-looking Jackie.

 

“Rose...”

“What are you doing here, Doctor?”

 

Her voice was blank, hollow, and her eyes were so sad that he almost let escape a little whimper. What did he do to her?

 

“I'm sorry, Rose.”

“Yeah, you already said so, right before you abandoned me.”

“I... That was a mistake. I didn't think it through. At the moment, I thought it was for the best.”

“Best for what? For whom? You?”

“Everybody. The whole of reality, I guess. I was stupid.”

“True you were”, intervened Jackie. “Look what you did to my poor Rose, you ass!”

“Mum, please. Explain yourself Doctor. What made you think that leaving me behind will... I don't even know what you hoped to achieve by that.”

“Could we talk alone? I don't fancy being assaulted verbally nor physically while I try to make amends.”

 

Jackie started to protest but Rose nodded and followed the Doctor in the TARDIS.

 

“I can't tell you how much I am sorry for what I did. I never intended to hurt you, Rose. I promised I won't.”

“But you did.”

“But I did.”

“Why?”

“Because I did something stupid and... Remember when we first met?”

“In Henricks' basement?”

“No. It was earlier that day. Just outside this very building. I asked you what time it was.”

“I don't remember.”

“I doesn't matter if you do. The thing is, it shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have met you. Ever.”

“How come?”, asked Rose, confused.

“Well, I already had met you. Just... It wasn't me-me.'

“I don't understand.”

“I'm not clear, am I? See, when a Time Lord die, well, he don't really die. We change every one of our cells to survive, therefore we become another person.”

“I remember that you said that that bloke we met at Hendricks was yourself. I thought you were a nutter back then but he really was you, wasn't he?”

“Yeah. Three faces ago. What I wanted to say is that, this was this Doctor that was meant to meet you. Who met you. And you travelled with him. Then with my next incarnation. But... something happened and I lost you.”

“You mean I died.”, she spoke quietly.

“Oh, no, no, no. You lived; I would never let you die. But... we were separated and nothing could be done about it. It was more than a... Let's say it was a long time ago on my end. I would met other people, travelled with them, lost them, then met some others. I met this other young woman and she saved my life more times than I can count or remember. She literally saved each and every one of my past selves. But then I changed again and she couldn't bear it; see, I think she had feelings for the idiot I was back then. Anyway she left me and I was so angry and heartbroken, that I went to see some of my former travelling companions, my friends. That's how I ended back here. I never intended to talk to you. Not because I didn't want to but because I was still hurting because of your absence and I knew I would have to leave. And then I saw you, mere feet from me and... I had to talk to you. And later when I discovered what day it was, I couldn't let my stupid former self take you away. Do you know that the first thing he did when you boarded the TARDIS was to take you to assist to the death of the Earth? So I arranged things so I would be the one who would take you in his TARDIS. But the Universe doesn't like it when you mess with time. Things, past things that is, changed all because of me and my inability to deal with your absence. So I left you. Because I thought it would fix everything. But I was wrong. So here I am.”

“I... That's quite a lot.”

“I know.”

“I have so many questions. But what intrigues me the most is what you mean by “things changed”.”

“History, time, past – or future, but still things that happened in my past – events were modified because you weren't with my past selves. Some people died when they should have live, and people lived when they should have died. Events never occurred.”

“People die because of me?”

“No, no, no, no, Rose, no. they did because of me. And remember that people were given another chance at life, too.”

 

She started crying silently, there, in the middle of the TARDIS' console room. He wrapped his arms around her despite the fact he still didn't trust hugs.

 

“I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't wanted to upset you.”

“I'm not”, she murmured. “Well, I am, what you did was stupid and dangerous. But... you did it for me. And I... I am happy. Cross but happy. You're the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“I would have happen even if I hadn't “steal” you from my former self.”

“Not you-you. It wouldn't have been the same. I wouldn't have like you as much as I do you.”

“Oh, you liked my old self a great deal.”

“No, you don't understand, Doctor, I...”

 

A series of loud bangs cut Rose off.

 

“Oi, you two! Get out this instant or I'll break down those doors! I don't want you to put ideas in Rose's head, Doctor!”

 

The two occupants of the TARDIS sighed.

 

“Guess it's time to face that scary woman again.”

“Oi, that's my mother you're talking about!”

“Yes, and she's scary.”

“I told you to get out!”, Jackie cried.

“Scary and irritating. Mostly irritating. Just one last thing: will you come back? Will you travel again with me?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

“I wouldn't assume.”

“Yes, Doctor, I'll come back. And we'll find a way to fix things. I'm sure of it.”

 

 

The TARDIS wasn't very pleased with this new development but she was glad her Doctor was happy; and she always had loved Rose – she wouldn't had let her look into her heart if she didn't like her a great deal. She wanted to force her pilot to take the girl to her right place but she knew he would never forgive her for that.

She still wasn't very pleased and above all, she was scared.

 

 

She had every reason to be.

 

 

If the Doctor had been anxious about the return of Rose in the TARDIS, he hadn't needed to be. Everything was at it had been before he left her at Jackie's. The tensions he had feared might occur were non-existent. It was as if those last few months never existed.

 

“Where do you want to go next? Your choice. Wherever, whenever, anywhere in time and space.”

“I don't care. Why don't we let the old girl decide for us?”

 

 

“Where are we?”, asked Rose as they exited the TARDIS.

“Earth. England. Sherwood Forest. 1190 AD. Ish.”

“Oh, maybe we'll meet Robin Hood.”

“There is no such thing as Robin Hood.”

 

The instant the Doctor finished his sentence, an arrow flew by his head and slammed into the door of the ship.

 

“You called?”, called a man dressed in green from the other side of the stream they materialised by.

“You were saying, Doctor?”

“Very nicely done with the box, sir.”, continue the man.

“Seriously, Doctor is that...”, started Rose. But she stopped and turned to the stranger. “Are you Robin Hood?”

“That is not Robin Hood.”, said the Doctor, firmly.

“Well then, who, sir, is about to relieve you of your magic box?”, challenged Robin as he draw his sword

“Nobody, sir. Not in this universe or the next.”

“Well then, draw your sword and prove your words.”

“I have no sword. I don't need a sword. Because I am the Doctor and this”, he rummaged into his coat for an instant, “is my spoon. En garde!”

 

Rose burst out laughing; the whole thing was ridiculous. And quite entertaining. Who knew the Time Lord could spare like that? And with a spoon in place of a sword, nonetheless! It was amazing. He was amazing. She said him so.

 

“I've had some experience. Richard the Lionheart. Cyrano de Bergerac. Errol Flynn.”

“You said you were Errol Flynn!”

“I lied! And I actually played Robin Hood. My second self was the first Robin on telly in the fifties. Had to used a pseudonym though. People said the “The Doctor” wasn't a good enough actor name.”, the Time Lord explained as he continued to duel Robin. “I'm sorry, but “The Doctor” is a perfect actor name, thank you very much!”

“How did you ended on telly?”

“I'm not sure. I think it was... You know what? I can't bother to try and remember. The fact is, though it was a TV show, I was a more real Robin Hood than this one.”

 

After a few more minutes fighting, the Doctor managed to push Robin into the water, with a very satisfied grin.

 

“Like I said. My box.”

 

Busy bragging, the Time Lord didn't notice the outlaw who emerged from the stream to shove him in the water too.

 

Rose burst out laughing and nearly fell over.

 

 

After the fight and the good laugh – which irritated the Doctor – Robin invited them to his hideaway.

 

“Well, I'll need to change before we go”, announced Rose. “You should too, Doctor.”

“No need for that.”

“Please? It would be fun to dress up for once. We never do it anymore!”

 

The Doctor wasn't very fond of the idea but he couldn't refuse Rose this little pleasure. So they re-entered the TARDIS and raided the dressing-room to find clothes that fitted the place and era.

 

“So? What do you think?”, asked Rose some time later.

“Maybe with less jewellery?”

“Oh.”

“My lady, a woman of your beauty has no need for such... decorations.”

“Did you just quote “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” to me?”

“I have no idea what your talking about.”

“Whatever you say, Kevin Costner. Eh, this get up looks nice on you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I make anything look nice. You should see what kind of outfits I wore in the past and still managed to look stunning.”

 

 

The outlaws' hideaway was nothing more than a cave in the heart of the forest.

 

“This is gorgeous!”

“No more than you, my Lady”, said Robin with a smile. “Nothing can compete with such beauty.”

“You flatter me, my good sir. Surely there is. I heard that the Maid Ma...”

“There is no Maid Marian as there is no Robin Hood!”, intervened the Doctor.

“Doctor. I know you don't like being wrong, but obviously, there is a Robin Hood.”, insisted Rose, with a hard look to the Time Lord. “Robin Hood and his Merry Men stand before your eyes and yet you refuse the truth.”

“You know as much as I do that appearance can lie.”

“Of course I do. But you're just being stubborn for the sake of it.”

“They have to be holograms!”

 

To prove his point, the Doctor pulled some hair from a nearby man and scanned them with his sonic screwdriver.

 

“Well, it's realistic. I'll give you that.”

“Let me introduce you to my...”, interrupted Robin, “what was it? Merry Men? I like that. What say you, lads?”

“Aye!”, came the collective answer.

“That lad your friend pulled hair, is Will Scarlet. He is a cheeky rogue with a good sword arm and a slippery tongue. And this is Friar Tuck. Aptly named for the amount of grub he tucks into.”

 

The Doctor stole the friar's sandal.

 

“This isn't a real sandal.”

“Yes, it is.”

 

A sniff.

 

“Oh. Yes, it is.”

 

Rose sighed. The Doctor really could be exasperating when he wanted to.

 

“This, er”, hesitated Robin, “is Alan-a-Dale. He's a master of the lute, whose music brightens up these dark days.”

 

As Alan began to sing, the Doctor jabbed him in the arm with a syringe.

 

“Ow!”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry. Blood analysis. Oh. All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months.”

“I'm real.”

“Bye.”

“Enough!”, shouted Rose. “Stop it, Doctor! And explain yourself. What are you doing?”

“Well, I have to find what they are. They're not holograms, that much is obvious. Could be a theme park from the future. Or we might be inside a miniscope.”

“Or, you could be wrong and they could be real.”, she insisted in hushed voice. “Whatever the case, you won't achieve anything by telling them they're not real. Or that they will die in a handful of months for that matter. And how can you be so sure he's not real?”

“Because he can't be. He is impossible. An impossible hero, and I know that there is no such thing.”

“Is that so? I'm pretty sure I already met one. And I'm not talking about Robin.”

 

The Doctor huffed then bit into an apple he took from a man before he scanned it with his screwdriver.

 

“Something is wrong. I know it.”

 

 

Something was, indeed , very wrong. The Sheriff of Nottingham – “See ! I told you so!”, had exclaimed Rose – was in league with robots – “No, _I_ told you so!”.

 

 

Rose was pissed. Really, really, _really_ pissed. Because of the endless squabble between the Doctor and Robin, she had been taken from their cell and leaded to the Sheriff's room. And the stupid, arrogant, disgusting man was driving her crazy with his bragging. But worst of all, he was suggesting that they should get married and rule over the world together. It was King Henry VIII all over again; down to the stinky breath. And she couldn't have tell him to stuff it because all it would have accomplish, was sending her back in jail with the two other idiots. Idiots whose fault it was that she was in this situation in the first place.

So yes, she was immensely pissed. But she had to keep her nerves in check.

 

“My Lord, I don't know what to say.”, she begun.

 

The Sheriff tried to kiss her and her resolves flew out the window; she kneed him in the groin. To Hell with consequences.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Robin had escaped their prison and had stumbled upon a room that had confirmed what the Time Lord had thought since he and Rose had met the Prince of thieves: it was an hoax.

 

“What is this place?”

“A spaceship. More twenty ninth century than twelfth. Data banks, data banks, data banks. Ah. It disguised itself as a twelfth century castle..”

 

This was interesting. The ship was in a good state except for the engines. It explained quite a lot. In fact, it explained everything, the weather, the sheriff, even Robin. He told the man so.

 

“It does?”

“Well, what does every oppressed peasant workforce need? The illusion of hope. Some silly story to get them through the day, lull them into docility, and keep them working. Ship's data banks. Full of every myth and legend you could hope for, including Robin Hood. Look! Various versions – all fake – of the same man. The man you pretend to be. Oh, here is my second self! And you, sir, are a robot.”

 

The two men had started to quarrel again when the door was blown up. The Sheriff entered, followed by robot knights. He had Rose with him. She immediately rejoined the Doctor's side.

 

“You're OK?”

“Yeah. No thanks to you, though.”

 

Oh, she sounded pissed.

 

“Sorry.”

“Me too”, said Robin before he grabbed Rose and backed up to the window.

“Leave me alone! What are you doing?”

“Surviving.”

 

The both of them falls backwards through the window before the Doctor had time to stop them.

 

“No! Rose! No!”

“Seize him!”, ordered the Sheriff.

 

The Doctor didn't protest and tried to stop the robot knight who grabbed him. What was the point? Rose was gone, probably dead just outside the castle.

 

 

He wallowed in his grief for a few hours but, devastated as he was, people still needed his help. He should think of a plan, he mussed. Especially now that the robots and the Sheriff seemed ready to take off. Which was a very rubbish idea, since the engines where still too damaged to do anything bar exploding.

Only, he didn't have to think of a plan, for Robin and a very much alive Rose came to help him and managed to stop the robots and their accomplice with the help of the Merry Men and the people the robots had used as workforce.

 

“Rose...”

 

He took her in his arms.

 

“You're alive... I thought I had lost you again.”

“Never. I'm not going anywhere Doctor. I'm here to stay. Forever.”

 

He remembered the last – the first – time she had promised him forever. It was just before Canary Wharf, just before he had lost her. He remembered what he had felt when she had promised it. He remembered what he had thought, what he had not dare to say, to do.

This time, he didn't hesitated; he kissed her. To Hell with consequences.

 

 

The kiss didn't change anything. They didn't even talk about it. It could have been awkward but strangely, it wasn't. They didn't need words. The Doctor surely didn't need Rose to vocalise her feelings, he knew she had loved him before and he knew she did now too. As for him... well, he once burned a sun to say goodbye to her and when he couldn't bear her absence any longer, he stole her from his former self.

So no, they didn't need words, nor anything else – not even other kisses – to know what the other felt.

And it was good.

 

 

What was a lot less than good, was the return of the voice who called his true name all those months ago. Twice, he had heard it since Robin Hood. And now a third time.

Every time, it had been louder, clearer. More dangerous sounding too. Until that moment, he had only heard his name and nothing else. But for some reason, it had now more things to say.

 

“Listen closely, Time Lord, for I won't repeat myself. Time is hurt and I will have to take action if you don't stop this foolishness and right things. Fail to do so and you will know my wrath. You know who I am and you know I don't jest. Make your choice.”

 

His hearts were beating frantically and were the only thing he could hear in the silence of his room.

Yes, he knew who had addressed him; he had finally recognised the voice. A voice he had known since he was newly admitted to the Academy. Death's voice.

 

 

He needed some time off, some time to calm the anxiety that Death's visit had caused. He needed some time to enjoy Rose's presence without to look over his shoulder to be sure Death wasn't lurking around. He had considered going back to the Eye of Orion but then he thought of somewhere even better.

 

“Where are we going?”, asked Rose as he set coordinates.

“Somewhere extraordinary. Somewhere like you never imagined. Wonderland!”

“Wonderland? As in “Alice in Wonderland”?”

“As in “Alice in Wonderland”, yes.”

“Are you saying that Lewis Caroll's novels are true stories? Tell me that's not what you're telling me because I won't believe that. Boggarts and Dementors ,OK, but Wonderland? No.”

“That's not what I'm telling you.”

“Doctor.”

“That's not a true story.”

“Sure?”

“Sure. I swear. No need to enter a rabbit's hole to access this Wonderland. I don't even think there is any rabbit there.”

“We really are going to Wonderland?”

“Yes. Well, the planet Phantasmagoria. But that's the same thing, I assure you.”

 

Rose was looking at him with an air of confusion which was quite adorable

 

"Stop it!", he scolded himself.

 

 

When they exited the TARDIS, Rose made a little surprise sound then hugged him.

 

“Thank you, Doctor! This is wonderful.”

“Well, this is Wonderland, after all.”, he smiled.

“It looks just like the Disney movie. Oh, I love that movie; I watched it dozens of times when I was a kid.”

 

It was, indeed, like the Disney movie. The flora was as odd as the one in which Alice found herself.

All flowers were at least twenty feet tall when trees rarely exceeded twelve inches. The forms and colours of the plants were such that nobody would have been able to describe them without great difficulty.

Saying that the fauna too was exceptional would have been a massive understatement. Around the both of them, insects the size of horses were moving nonchalantly while little equines and other tiny mammals, slenderer than sparrows, were flying in flocks of hundreds of individuals. Rose watched a pocket-sized elephant who was fluttering about a strawberry cream cake tree.

 

“You could nearly expect to meet fairies.”

“Believe me, you don't want to meet fairies, Rose. Those are nasty malicious dangerous creature. Nothing like the benevolent beings that fairy tales make you believe they are.”

“You have met some before?”

“A couple of times, yes. And I don't intend to do that again anytime soon. Which is all good, since there aren't any on Phantasmagoria. What there is though is...”

 

The Doctor stuck his finger in his mouth then pointed it toward the sky – invisible from where they were standing because of the tall flowers which created a thick canopy – then put it back in his mouth as if he wanted to taste the air.

 

“Yes, that what I thought. There is a tea lake not a thousand feet away, with sugar ducks swimming in it. They're sugar. In tea. And they don't melt! Fancy seeing that?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

 

Taking her hand by rote, the Doctor led them through the forest. They laughed a bit when they stumbled upon a herd of rocking zebras doing aerial pirouettes.

The air was smelling like cotton candy. But soon it was a Darjeeling aroma which filled their noses and they soon caught a glimpse of the lake – or pond . A light milk fog misted up the surface but not enough to prevent them to see the multicoloured ducks floating on it.

 

“I just remembered that when I was very little, mum and I used to go to the park every Sunday morning where we would spend hours feeding old bread to the ducks. All week I would gather each and every bit of bread I could find, just that I would be able to feed them a little longer. I even asked Mickey or other friends to give me some.”

“I didn't think to bring some, I fear. Though, I don't think those particular ducks eat bread.”

“It would be quite absurd, don't you think?”, asked a male voice behind them.

 

The two travellers turned around, surprised they didn't heard him approaching.

 

“They only feed on wafers, of course. Do you eat dry bread with your tea?”

“I prefer Jammy Dodgers myself.”

“Really?”, asked Rose.

“Yes.”

“They like finger biscuits too, but only on Sunday. And Tuesday morning they refuse anything that is not a toast with bitter orange marmalade on it.”

 

The man stopped talking and threw a handful of raisins into the pond, scaring the ducks.

 

“Did you know that Time is upset?”, he asked.

 

Yes, he bloody knew, thought the Doctor.

 

“It's vanilla-flavoured wafers that they prefer, of course.”, continued the man. “Who are you?”

“I'm the Doctor. And this is Rose Tyler.”

“They call me Dodgy around here. Or Lewis, though I don't know why.”

“Oh, you must be Charles Dodgson then!”, said the Time Lord enthusiastically.

“Wait.”, intervened Rose. “Charles Dodgson? Charles “Lewis Carroll” Dodgson?”

“Yes.

“Lewis Carroll is an alien?”

“Of course he is.”

“But... That can't be Lewis Carroll. I saw pictures of him and he didn't look like Dodgy here. How can he be the same man?”

“I'm a metamorph, obviously.”, responded Dodgy without looking at Rose, still throwing raisins towards the ducks. “You remind me a young girl I met once. She, too, asked stupid questions. Get up!”

 

The instant he yelled his order, he threw himself on the ground, his head covered by his arms.

 

“What are you doing?”, couldn't help asking Rose even if she knew the answer would be baffling.

“Protecting myself from the Jabberwocky, of course.”

“The Jabber... There is nothing here., responded the young woman.

“Certainly there is. The Jabberwocky will attack me yesterday.”

“What?”

“Time runs backwards here. It's a very timey-wimey place.”, said the Doctor.

“Is this because of... you know? Me being with you? Dodgy said time was upset.”

“Yes, he said but no. _That_ is not because of our situation.”

“OK.”

 

 

The three of them spent some more time by the duck pond before Dodgy invited the Doctor and Rose to his house to take the tea.

 

“It's far from here; only three minutes away.”, proclaimed Dodgy.

 

It appeared that it was a lot more than three minutes away. More than an hour later, they still hadn't reach their destination. The fact that a lot of the paths took them back to their starting point didn't help. Finally, the little group arrived to a crossroad where two road signs indicated “Here” and “There”.

 

“Where to?”, asked to Doctor.

“Here.”, responded Dodgy before he engaged in the path labelled “There”.

“Come here, Rose!”, the Doctor called his companion who was about twenty feet behind the two men, occupied to watch another herd of little mammals.

 

The young woman tore her eyes off the animals and resumed her walking but when she reached the crossroad, the men had disappeared. She shrugged and took the “Here” path; after all, the Doctor had yelled to “come _here_ ”.

 

 

“Where is Rose?”

“How would I know? Who knows where lead the paths nobody follows.”

“I need to find her. I can't lose her again.”

“You will. But not today. Paths always lead somewhere.”

“I. Won't. Lose. Her!”, vociferated the Doctor.

 

 

She should have known that following the obvious path was a bad idea. She sighed and continued to walked. Eventually she would find somebody who would be able to help her.

 

 

“If you're not capable to get your bearings...”, started the Doctor angrily.

“Getting oneself's bearings is no use; things change all the time. What you need to do is to imagine.”

 

Dodgy closed his eyes and the scenery shifted. Where there had been a forest of gigantic flowers a few moments before stood a village. Near the end of the main road as the TARDIS. But Rose was nowhere to be seen. Tired of running around, the Doctor took his sonic sunglasses from his pocket, put them on and started to scan the vicinity while Dodgy walked away.

It took him a couple of minutes but the Time Lord was able to locate his companion.

 

“Dodgy! I found Rose! She's at the milliner.”

 

Dodgy exited the tea shop, a biscuit in one hand, a tea cup in the other. He was followed by a rabbit-eared creature.

 

“The milliner?”, said the creature. “She's mad as a March hare. Or as a hatter.”

“As everybody on that planet.”, grumbled the Doctor as he walked toward the little shop.

 

Suspiciously – as years had come and passed, he had learned to be cautious about shopkeepers – the Time Lord entered the little store expecting an attack. But the most dangerous thing in the shop was the needle cushion the milliner wore at her wrist.

 

“Doctor!”

 

Rose was trying hats and seemed happy.

 

“You should buy one for yourself!”, she added.

“Not going to happen. Not this time around.”, he answered thinking about the love of his former self for fezzes and Stetsons. He shuddered.

 

 

They had say goodbye to Dodgy and were about to take off when Rose's phone rung. It was Mickey.

 

“Rose, I know you're travelling with a friend but you have to come back home. It's Jackie. There was an accident.”

 

 

Jackie was dead and Rose was devastated. Of course, she was. And the Doctor didn't know what to do to help her. The were staying in Jackie's apartment; things needed to be taken care of and the flat had to be cleared before the end of the month. Mickey was there too and for once, the Doctor was happy to have this still immature version of the young man in the vicinity.

 

“Rose, you need to eat something.”

”I'm not hungry.”, she responded her best friend.

“Maybe but I still want you to eat a bit. Come on, there's chips. Tell her, Doctor.”

“Mickey's right, Rose. You can't stop living becau...”

“MY MUM'S DEAD!”, shouted the young woman. “She's dead.”, she continued with a sob. “I can't... I don't know what to do.”

 

Mickey took her in his arms and rocked her gently.

 

“I'm all alone. I don't have anybody else. My aunt and cousins don't even like me.”

“Shh... You're not. We're here for you, Rose. Both of us.”

 

 

Two days later, as the last of the boxes of Jackie's things were moved to Rose's room in the TARDIS, the three of them stood in the console room of the ship ready to take off without a destination in mind; they just needed to escape the oppressiveness of the estate. To the Doctor's chagrin, Mickey had declared that he was coming with them because he wanted to keep an eye on his friend.

They were in the console room when Rose asked a question the Doctor hadn't a response to.

 

“Where do you think people go when they're dead? Is there a place where everybody goes? Something like, maybe not Heaven, but an Afterworld?”

“I don't know. Frankly, I don't think a place like that exist.”

“Can't we look? I need to see my mum at least one last time. And I know you won't travel back to when she was alive. You refused when I asked to see my dad.”

“You know why, Rose. I told you we had done that and how it turned out.”

“Didn't stop you when it was you who wanted yo see me again, though.”, she mumbled pettily.

“Rose...”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But can we look? See if there is an afterlife kind of place?”

 

He knew he should refuse, that it would only end with her in tears and more heartbroken than ever; but when was he ever able to refuse her anything? Apart from the visit to a still alive Pete – and even then, he had had great difficulties to not yield – he only was able to refuse her that 'cause he knew how things could worsen. As if he haven't disturbed time enough already.

 

“I guess we could try. I can't promise anything though.”

“I know.”

 

 

Mickey had helped him plug Rose into the TARDIS' telepathic interface which he wasn't even sure would work but after a minute or so, the time rotor had started going up and down. At least, the TARDIS thought Jackie was some place they could access.

 

“Were are we?”

“Nav-com's offline. We'll have to do this old school.”

“Do you think Jackie's here?”, asked Mickey.

“Almost certainly not. It's where there's a connection with Jackie. According to the TARDIS, this is where it's most likely that Rose's timeline will re-intersect with her mother's.”

“What is this place, then?”

“It's a mausoleum”, intervened Rose pointing to a small obelisk on which was written “Rest I Peace, We Promise”.

“With massive fish tanks in it?”, questioned the younger man showing the large tanks they could see upstairs.

“Those are definitely not fish tanks.”

“What, then?”

“Tombs. Water tombs.”

 

 

They explored for some more time until the Doctor came across a lectern and started to fumbled with the book that rested on it. A holographic cube then rose up, displaying the 3W logo and some words; a soft feminine voice read them as they scrolled down.

 

“3W. Death is not an end. But we can help you with that. Ever since 3W encountered the truth about the death experience, we have been working hard to find a better life for the deceased. At 3W, afterlife means aftercare.”

“That's not strange at all.”, ironized Mickey.

“Very strange. Why have the scrolling and a voice?”

“For people who can't see, read or hear?”, said Rose.

“Well, yes, but not in that case. Is it difficult? Reading all those words back to front. Come on. We've come a long way.”

 

The hologram disappeared as a woman, dressed like Mary Poppins, walked through it.

 

“Hello. I hope you're well. How may I assist you with your death?”

“There's no immediate hurry.”

“Please take all the time you need. At 3W, you always have the rest of your life.”

“What is 3W?”, asked Mickey.

 

The woman looked at him puzzled then turned towards the Doctor.

 

“Apologies. Clearly you have not received the official 3W greetings package.”, she said then promptly lunged at the Doctor, pushed him against a wall and kissed him feverishly. The Time Lord froze.

 

“Welcome to the 3W Institute.”, she added when the kiss ended. She then turn to the other two. “You also have not received the official welcome package.”

“We're good.”, responded Mickey.

“Who are you?”, managed to questioned the Doctor.

“I am Missy.”

“Missy?”

“Mobile Intelligent Systems Interface. I am a multi-function, interactive welcome-droid. Helping you to help me to help you.”

“You're very, er... realistic?”

“She used her tongue?”, laughed Mickey.

“Shut up.”

“Who cares who or what she is, or that she bloody French-kissed you. I want to know where is my mother! We need to speak to the person in charge.”

“I am in charge!”

“You're a robot. I want to speak to the manager or whatever.”

“Doctor Chang!”, shouted Missy.

 

 

Doctor Chang led the three of them to his office where started to explain that all bodies where encased in a support exoskeleton that was not visible due to the use of what was called “dark water”.

 

“Only organic matter can be seen through it.”, he said as he puts his arm in a jar containing some of the liquid. “I keep saying they should use this stuff in swimming-pools.”

“You're a creep.”, responded Rose. “And I still want to know where my mum is. Though, I really hope I won't find her in one of your peeping tanks.”

 

After some sputtering, the doctor Chang explained that Jackie wasn't there but that they might be able to contact her via 3W.

 

“What is 3W? What does it stand for?”, questioned Mickey

“Well, the three words.”

“What three words?”

“Seriously? You don't know?”

“Never mind what we know and what we don't, just answer our question.”, grunted the Doctor.

“Because people who don't know, when they hear about this, they can freak out.”

“We're not going to “freak out”.”

“If you've had a recent loss, this might be, this will be disgusting.”

“Just tell us, I want to know. I'll be fine.”, responded Rose.

 

 

She was not fine at all. She just learned that the dead remained conscious and were fully aware of everything that happened to them; or at least, to their body. The Doctor, of course, didn't believe any of it and was expressing his distrust quite vocally. But the young woman couldn't stop thinking about her mother and what she was going through. She was quietly sobbing in Mickey's arms when they received the call.

 

“Rose?”

“Mum!”

 

The three men left her in the office to talk to Jackie but not before the Doctor had insisted that she needed to stay sceptical, critical and strong for he was certain that it wasn't Jackie who was calling.

 

 

The Doctor had knew something was fishy and it was confirmed. For one, Missy wasn't a droid at all but a Time Lady who stole technology from Gallifrey and escaped the planet Rassilon knew how; second, each tank housed a Cyberman. And if he were to believe Missy, so were every tomb on Earth. It was enough for him to start panicking; then he received one last shock.

 

“Who are you?”

“Oh, you know who I am. I'm Missy.”

“Who's Missy?”

“Please, try to keep up. Short for Mistress. Well, I couldn't very well keep calling myself the Master, now could I?”

 

That was bad. That was very bad. Very very bad. Especially with those pudding-brained humans who didn't found anything better to do than taking bloody selfies with the Cybermen.

 

 

This had been bad, then UNIT intervened and the level of badness had skyrocketed. First of all, they decided to knock Missy up and he couldn't continue to talk to her. Then, they knocked _him_ up. Stupid militaries. And if it didn't suffice, they appointed him President of the Earth and gave him the commandment of every army on the planet. But worse of all, Rose was missing.

 

“I need to find Rose.”

“A team has been sent in Saint Paul's; they'll retrieve her. For now, we have work to do.”

“No. I need her here with me.”

“I promise we'll find your assistant.”

“Not an assistant.”

“Friend, then.”

“No.”

“No? No what?”

“Not a friend. She's so much more than a simple friend.”

“I knew there was something between you two.”, intervened Mickey.

“Yeah, yeah, you're a clever one, well done. Now. Rose.”

“Ma'am,”, came Osgood's voice, ”the prisoner is awake.”

“I'm coming.”, announced the Doctor.

 

 

“How are you still alive?”, the Doctor asked the moment he entered the cargo hold.

“You saved me.”

“I saved Gallifrey.”

“Yes, Gallifrey too, I suppose. There's always collateral damage with you and me.”

“Gallifrey's lost in another dimension.”

“Yes and no.”

“Meaning?”

“Yes, it's another dimension. No, it's not lost.”

 

Gallifrey. Missy knew were Gallifrey was.

 

“You know where it is?”

“Yep! You know the best part about knowing?”, she questioned mockingly. “Not telling.”

 

She was insufferable, he thought as he rejoined Mickey, the colonel Ahmed and Kate Stewart in the main part of the plane. But he quickly forget about his planet and his former best friend to think about Rose. Hopefully the reckon team would have find her and sent to a secure place.

 

 

They hadn't. And the Cybermen attacked the plane. The day was going worse and worse.

 

 

“Ask me.”, said Missy the moment he came back to her.

“Shut up!”

“Ask me! Come on, you know you want to. You want to know what my plan is. You'll be surprised. I've got a gift for you. You know, I've been up and down your timeline, meeting all those silly people who died to keep you alive. And you know what I worked out? What you really need.”

“For what?”

“To know that you're just like me!”

 

The TARDIS' phone rang.

 

“Oh, and now it begins. Doctor, I do believe you're on call. Miss Tyler expects. Not my choice of companion, of course, but so much better than the one I did send to you. Though I still keep tabs on dear miss Oswald. Did you know that that she's dating a teacher? A maths teacher, I believe.”

“It was you! You were the woman in the shop that gave Clara my number. You put us together.”

“And I would have get you together if you haven't steal your current monkey friend from yourself. You're very naughty, aren't you, Doctor?”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, please. Do you think I wouldn't be able to sense the timelines changing? I'm pretty sure the old men do to, in their dimension. Guess you'll have news from them before long if you continue like that. But don't fear, my gift could come in handy. Also, I saw you when you stole miss Tyler. You were quite dashing just after the war, it's a pity I didn't met you properly in this incarnation. Tough I have to say you're not bad in this one either. And I love the accent. I even kept it myself. I told you, I revisited your timeline. Followed you all around the universe. And you never noticed me. Which at the time was all good, as I wanted you to stop me,but it's quite hurtful.”

“Oh! You were the scary woman in the Tesco on the moon!”

“You remembered me. Oh, Doctor, I'm so happy I could cry.”, Missy fake-sobbed.

 

 

 

Jackie was a Cyberman, which wasn't a surprise per se. What was, was the fact that she needed her emotions inhibitor to be activated and wanted Rose to do it; and more so, the fact that Rose wanted to do it.

 

“Rose, don't”, shouted the Doctor as soon as he exited the TARDIS when she materialised in the graveyard Rose and her cyberized-mother stood, trying to find the switch button that would activate the inhibitor.

“Doctor, you have to help me. I don't know how to do it.”

“You can't. Rose, listen to me. If you activate the inhibitor Jackie would be a proper Cyberman and she would kill you.

“I won't! She's my daughter.”

“Oh, Jackie, I'm sorry but it won't matter if this thing is switched on.”

“She's in pain, Doctor!”

“I know. And I am really sorry, but that's what keep your mother from harming you. Pain is a gift. Without the capacity for pain, we can't feel the hurt we inflict.”

“But can you do it? Can you activate it?”, intervened Mickey.

 

He had forgot that the young man was here, worried as he was for Rose.

 

“Of course I can.”

“But you won't?”, questioned Rose.

“No, I won't. I can't do that. It would be as if I killed you myself.”

“Yeah...”

“Jackie,” started the Doctor, “I need you to tell me what is the plan. You're part of a hive mind now. Presumably that's how you found Rose. Just look. Find the plan.”

“I can't. Not without this thing being activated.”

 

No. No, no, no, no, no. He needed the informations. He needed to know what the Cybermen had planned. But he couldn't do what Jackie asked of him. He couldn't put Rose in more danger that she already was. Or Mickey, for that matter. He couldn't but he didn't had a choice, the Earth – and ultimately the galaxy and/or the universe – was in the balance.

 

“I need to know. Mickey, take Rose and go inside the TARDIS.”

“No! I won't leave my mum.”

“Rose...”

“No. I don't care what you're saying, I know she won't hurt me. I'm staying.”

“Maybe you should listen to the Doctor, darling.”

“No, mum. I trust you.”

 

He really needed the infos. He fumbled with his screwdriver.

 

“Do it, Doctor. I know you need to. And I'm not above slapping you again. And I think that with this new body of mine it would be quite painful.”

“It would. I'm sorry for everything, Jackie. I wish I could have saved you.”

“Make sure to keep my daughter well and alive and you're forgiven, yea? Now, activate this thing; there is a planet to save. Love you, Rose.”

“Love you, mum.”

 

The Doctor took his screwdriver firmly in his hand and pointed it towards Jackie. The cyberized woman changed her demeanour as he used his sonic tool. Rose tried to run to hug her mum but Mickey stopped her.

 

“Rose, don't.”

“Jackie. Jackie, please. If you can hear me, if you're still you, tell me what the plan is.”

“All humans will die. And rise again as Cybermen.”

“How do we stop it?”

“We can't be stopped.”

 

Missy chose this moment to appear, floating to the ground like an evil Mary Poppins. Well, Mary wasn't really a goody-two-shoes and had tried to strangle him the last time they met. She wasn't as neurotic as Missy was, but she wasn't that sane either. And to think that people let her around their children... If they knew half of what he knew about the woman (whom he still suspected to be a renegade Time Lady though he didn't have any proof), they would run away screaming.

 

“Oh, that was brilliant! Rose, you poor thing. You must feel like death. Let me pop away the pain.”, said Missy tapping something on her weapon.

 

The Doctor grabbed it and throw it away.

 

“Don't you dare! Don't you think about it!”

“Oh, sorry , hon, I'm just getting a bit carried away. Oh, stop looking all cross-pants. I'm here to give you a gift. Could you at least try and be excited?”

“What gift?”

 

Excitedly, Missy began to play a game of Simon Says with the Cybermen that she was controlling.

 

“You see, Doctor? The power to slaughter whole worlds at a time, then make them a do a safety briefing. Everyone who ever lived, man, woman and child, is now at my command. An indestructible army to rage across the universe. The more they kill, the more they recruit. Happy birthday. Oh! You didn't know, did you? It's lucky one of us remembers these things. Happy birthday Mister President.”, she concluded as she gave the Doctor the bracelet she used to control the Cybermen.

 

She was giving him an army? What was she thinking? As if he ever needed or wanted an army.

 

“Why are you doing this?”

“I need you to know we're not so different. I need my friend back. Every battle, every war, every invasion. From now on, you decide the outcome. Hell, I told you the old men were probably about to come after you, you can fight them now. You can rule Gallifrey! Change the rules about time! You can save your precious little human. I'll help you. Just accept my gift and be my friend again. Conquer the universe, Mister President. Show a bad girl how it's done.”

“No.”

“What's the matter? Don't you trust yourself?”

 

Of course, he didn't; why would he? He knew he had darkness in him; always had, he thought when he remembered his first encounter with Death. But what he already had was friends; friends that loved him. Friends that would always stop him before he let his dark side take control; and it was what Missy lacked.

 

“I don't need an army.”, he said firmly. “I never have, because I've got them.” The Doctor pointed towards Rose, Mickey and Jackie who had rejoined them. “Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise. Oh, and Jackie will never hurt Rose. You didn't notice, did you? While you were doing your silly orders, while you where showing off, the one soldier not obeying. But then again, you were never very observant, especially when you think you're winning.”

 

 

Jackie had sacrificed herself to save the world. I wasn't something he had thought he would seen someday; but what did he knew? The problem of the Cybermen solved, the only thing to settle was Missy's fate.

 

“Ten zero eleven zero zero by zero two.”, said the Time Lady suddenly.

“What did you say?”

“The current coordinates of Gallifrey. It's returned to it's original location. Didn't you ever think to look?”

“You're lying.”

“We can... We can go together. Just you and me. Just like the old days.”

 

She seemed hopeful though a bit desperate, the Doctor noticed. Was she genuine for once? Did she really wanted his friendship back? He would have been lying if he affirmed that it wasn't something he wanted. She was indeed his older friend; the one for whom he killed when he was just a kid. The one he all but sacrificed to Death to save his own skin. The one he was responsible for.

 

“You'd be clapped in iron. And Rose – and Mickey, if he wants to stay – would come with us.”

“If you like. Anything. As long as we can be friends again, I'll do whatever you want.”

“You would really do it? Once you would have preferred to die rather than be my prisoner. You did die actually.”

“I was a man which means I was stupid. I got better.”

“Doctor? You really want to take her in the TARDIS? Even after what she did?”

“Yes, Rose. She's my older friend. The only other Time lord – sorry, Lady – in our dimension. I have known her my all life. She's my responsibility. But that doesn't mean I trust her. As I said she would be clapped in iron. And she won't be able to free roam the TARDIS. She won't cause problems.”, he turned towards Missy. “I'll have to monitor you to make sure you don't try and escape.”

“I told you, I will do everything you want. Even be civil and don't try to kill your little friends. I'll be... good.”

 

 

Missy was indeed put in iron and locked inside a room of the TARDIS as soon as the two Time Lords and Rose – Mickey had decided to stay on Earth and maybe see if he could join UNIT – entered the ship. She didn't even complain that the room was draughty, cold and a bit damp. The Doctor trusted her just a little bit more for that. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have her onboard. Maybe everything will be good.

 

 

The dreams – memories – came back that night.

 

 

It had been some times since the dreams had came and he had nearly forgot about them. But at the moment, he just couldn't ignore them.

He and Ianto had met Donna when she had been transported to the TARDIS and they had help her and the rest of the Earth just like it had happened the first time. It was reassuring to know that whatever he did, he would always had met one of the best friend he ever had. Oh, how he missed her. He also met Martha on the moon. But contrary to the encounter with Donna, this had changed.

 

 

_Martha had shown so much potential. She could have been part of the TARDIS crew. She saved them. She saved everyone in the hospital. She had saved everyone except herself. She had sacrificed herself so people could live. Why did people always had to die when he was around? It was as if Death was following him. But maybe she was. After all, he should had been her champion if he hadn't betray Koschei._

_He always felt that way more or less; but since the Autons in London, he had the distinct impression that it was worsening. The more he thought about it, the more he was certain that something had happened when he met his future self; but what? It couldn't had been the meeting itself as he already encounter former or future selves more than once without any problem. Well no more problems that he found himself any other day of his life._

_He knew he was missing something. Something big. And then there was the business with the Mahr. This creature he and Ianto encountered and fought in a human colony on Eris was not supposed to exist. This was the stuff of legend; or rather stuff of nightmare. But he was the first to admit that he didn't know everything; which was awesome. He loved not knowing something. Well, most of the time._

_Then he met (again) the last of the members of the Cult of Skaro and the Macra, he became human for some time, return to his true self and he forgot about the Mahr._

_But then, the Master reappeared, claiming that cracks in time were opening, that some knowledge from the future came to him through one of those while he was hiding from the war as a human,and had prompt him to open the watch that kept his essence. But what knowledge, he refused to say, finding amusement in the Doctor's ignorance. The Doctor knew that this information was what he needed to understand what he was missing. But of course, the Master had had a devious plan to destroy the Earth and conquer the Universe (when didn't he?) and the other Time Lord had to stop him. Him and his army of Toclafanes._

_Once again, he found himself face to face with an impossible creature, but he couldn't negate the nature of the zombie-like creatures that accompanied the Master. He knew they truly were what they appeared to be. He had heard the stories far too many times not to. Their appearance only was a giveaway, then the unmistakable sound they made and finally their feeding habits; gorging on people's fears._

_But how could they had been real? And how had the Master been able to find them and convince them to help him? He always had been the best in folklore and mythologies courses and had been more than a little obsessed with all those horror tales, but never before he had been able to prove that anything they had learn was true. Why now?_

 

 

The Doctor jerked awake, panting. Flouting the fact that he was only wearing his pyjama bottom, he run to Missy's room.

 

“How could the Toclafanes be real?”, he asked without preamble.

“I was sleeping, you silly sausage! Couldn't your questioning wait a few hours?”

“Answer me!”

“How should I know? They were that's all I know. Though I'm pretty sure that it as something to do with you tampering with the timelines. You know that when things are dire, all kind of things creep out to try and fix them: Reapers, of course, but not only. I presume that Toclafanes were one of those things. I'm sure some other creepers had escaped their nest and are roaming through time and space, looking for paradoxes to feed on.”

 

The Doctor said nothing but his face must have expressed his guilt because Missy looked at him suspiciously.

 

“What are you hiding? Oh. You have met other ones, haven't you? Which ones?”

“Crowleys of few months ago. And the Mahr some time before the Toclafanes.”

“You're kidding? Crowleys? Tell me everything. You know I always loved this story. I envy you so much right now. I could kill to met a Crowley.”

“Do you really think that's the right time?”

“But I'm in bed and sleepy, please daddy, tell me a story.”

“Stop it!”

“You're no fun. Your pinstriped-clad tousled old self would have told me.”

“He was an idiot who would have poured his hearts to you, cried and complained while blaming everything on himself. And you would have laugh while he did. I'm not an idiot. And I'm glad I'm not him anymore.”

“Though he would have been right to blame himself; you are responsible for the whole situation.”

“Shut up.”

“Hey! I'm not the one who created a paradox the size of the Medusa Cascade. Or worse, the one who had awoken a sleeping lady to ask her questions and then refused to answer hers. So don't you “shut up” me.”

“Missy, please, stop it. The situation is complicated enough.”

“And whose fault is it?”

“Mine, I know. Believe me I know. But I don't know what to do.”

“Well, there's a very simple way to fix things.”

“I'm not sending Rose back with my past self.”

“Rassilon, you really have... yurk, feelings for her? That's just plain wrong – and if I'm the one who says it, you know it really is. That's cradle-robbing, you should be ashamed of you, you naughty boy.”

“If you're not going to be more helpful, I'll leave.”

“Do that. Really, do it. Then maybe I'll be able to sleep. I need my beauty sleep, we don't want me to look all wrinkled and cross like you do, now do we?”

 

Insufferable, the Doctor thought for what felt like the one quadrillionth time since he met her when they were little kids, some time before they entered the Academy.

He left her and went to the library, knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep; not after the memories that assailed him earlier.

 

 

He was still in the library when Rose found him the next morning, two cups of tea in her hands.

 

“Trouble sleeping?”, she asked as she lent him one of the beverages.

“You can say that.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Do you really want to know what I managed to broke, what lives I destroyed?”

“Not really, but if you want to talk, I'm here to listen.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I would have to decline. Though your support would be greatly appreciated, it won't help me find a solution to that impossible situation.”

“I don't want to but... maybe if you send me...”

“No. I already said so to Missy, I'm not sending you back. I can't lose you again, Rose. Don't ask me to do that, please.”

 

Rose took his cup from his hand and put it on the table with hers then made him and hugged him.

 

“I'm not asking, I recall I said that I didn't want to. And I'm not going anywhere. Not willingly. I already told you, I'm here to stay for as long as you'll have me.”

“That would be forever then.”

“Forever.”, she confirmed before she kissed him.

“Oh, for Omega's sake! That's disgusting.”, came a voice from the threshold.

 

The two lovers turned around.

 

“I thought you locked her up.”

“Oh, please, as if he would be able to keep me imprisoned.”

“What are you doing here, Missy?”

“Well, I went here to continue our discussion from last night. Yes, little monkey, your man spent some quality time with me last night; don't be jealous, it's just that I am so much better than your human-self.”

“Missy!”

“We'll really have to go looking for your sense of humour, dear. Where did you see it last? Did you drop it while running around like you're so fond of doing? OK, not fun.”, she said when she saw the dark look the Doctor was sending her. She sighed. “I went looking for you because I think that it would help if you told me everything that happened since you picked that one. And probably what you remember changing too. I'm willing to help to find a solution that doesn't involve sending your little monkey to your past self. But you have to help me to help you.”

 

He didn't want to admit to it, but she was right. If he wanted to find a solution, his genius friend was an asset he couldn't not use. He started to talk.

 

 

Missy hadn't any idea yet but she promised to think of something since she wasn't “keen of being erased from the universe because [he] had been a selfish besotted idiot.”. In the meantime, the Doctor had proclaimed that they would continue to do what they did best: running through time and space, looking for trouble and worlds to save.

 

“You don't intend to make me help people, do you?”

“You can always stay in your room – handcuffed , obviously I can't have you roaming freely if I can't see you – if you prefer. But I vividly remember you saying that you would do everything that I wanted if I took you with us in the TARDIS.”

“But helping people? Really? I would rather enucleate myself with a spoon. Both eyes.”

“Go on, the kitchen is well-stocked, I'm sure you'll find a spoon that would suit your needs. Or maybe you could stop being difficult for a whole minute. I swear, every one of your incarnations is more of a drama-queen that the previous one. And I thought that you could never top your Tremas self in this area. I have been naïve.”

“Well, I love to surpass myself. What is the point of life if not having a little competition with your past selves? You should try it some day.”

“Like I said, you are free to stay here if you prefer.”

 

Missy sighed then stuck her tongue at Rose.

 

“And let you alone with the little monkey. Not happening. I'm coming.”

“My name's Rose. Could you please stop calling me “monkey”?”

“No.”, she responded then started towards the door. “You're a little monkey and someone need to make sure you remember your place. ” She addressed the Doctor. “Coming, dear?”

“I'm sorry about her behaviour, Rose. She always has been a thorn in my foot.”

“Well, you didn't say that when we were running together in my father's fields. Nor when you were having that ridiculous man-crush on me. And yes, I knew.”

“You didn't. And I'm not ashamed of it. At least, I wasn't panting after Ushas of all people.”

“I wasn't! I'm not that insane.”

“Oh, yes you were. And you know it. How many time did she kneed you in the groin or punched you 'cause you were trying to ask her on a date? I lost count after the nine hundredth time.”

“It wasn't dates, merely study sessions. And she punched you as much as she did me. Or Mort and Magnus, for that matter. And she certainly kneed that asshole Vansell more than all us put together. She even punched Rallon once. Rallon! She just didn't like to be disturbed in her studying. And I didn't pant after her. Drax did.”

“Keep telling you that. But you...”

 

The Doctor was interrupted by Rose's laughter.

 

“What?”, asked the two Time Lords.

“You two. Your are ridiculous. I don't know if you're like a very old married couple or a pair of toddlers. Either way, you are very ridiculous. So much for the great and powerful Time Lords. How old are you, again? Two thousands and some more, yeah?”

“Two thousands? You're more than two thousands?”, asked Missy incredulously.

“What? Not you? I thought we were in sync.”

“No! Do I look like I'm two thousands years old?”

“How old are you then?”

“You don't ask that to a lady.”

“You're no lady.”

“Yes I am. A little bit. I' m a Time Lady, aren't I?”

“How old, Missy?”

“One thousand seven hundreds and twenty-one.”

“And the truth now, please.”

“Alright. One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven. Ish.”

“You don't know, do you? You could be more than two thousands. Just like I could be just a little less than two thousands 'cause I lost count a long time ago.”

“Why does it even matters? Weren't we suppose to go and save people. I'm really looking forward to that.”

 

Rose had been right they were ridiculous but once in a while, it was good to be. And it was nearly as if he was back to the Academy when he and his best friend bickered childishly; it was just like when he was still happy and relatively innocent. It was quite pleasant.

 

 

Of course, good things never last and they had found themselves captured nearly as soon as they exited the TARDIS. They had be surrendered by human-sized Nutcrackers and, outnumbered, they didn't had any other choice but to let the woody toys led them to a cell.

 

“I'm starting to regret not having enucleate myself.”

“Shut up, Missy. I'm trying to think and your perpetual complaining isn't helping.”

 

He needed to know who their captor was, has it was obvious the toys were just pawns to somebody. The choice of playthings guards could mean a lot of things but he couldn't help thinking about the Celestial Toymaker. But it was impossible, as he had been vanquished a long time and many lives ago. It could always be Mary Poppins trying to mess with him again; it had been at least three centuries since they play their little game. He didn't mind most of the time – except when she tried to strangle him because he said her new hat looked stupid on her – but he would prefer if she and Missy didn't meet again; once had been enough. The day when Mary and the Master had team up to capture him and had sent him to a bubble universe of their own creation was still in his top hundred worse day ever. Never again.

 

“Thought of a brilliant plan already, mister grumpy-pants?”

“For Omega's sake! I told you to shut up. And why don't try to find something yourself? You're always saying how you're so much better and smarter than me; then prove it.”

“I don't think I will. It's so much funnier to look at you getting more annoyed every minute that pass. Besides, you would sulk to no end if I was the one ending saving the day and we can't have that.”

“Doctor, do you know who those Nutcrackers are? And why they captured us?”, questioned Rose.

“They're just pawns, that's for sure. As for why they got us, I can't tell till I know who employs them.”

“The Toymaker?”, asked Missy.

“Really? He was destroyed something like one thousand and three hundreds years ago. At least.”

“Well, you supposedly destroyed the Daleks too and look how that turned out. And you vanquished me more times that I want to admit and here I am. Why wouldn't he still be around?”

“Because I know it. He was... Rallon managed to expel him before dying. The Toymaker was extremely weak and Rallon's Watcher stay with him to keep him in check. It can't be him.”

“Rallon's dead? When did it happened?”

“Back in my fifth live.”

“And you never told me?! He was my friend too! What about Millennia?”

 

The door to their cell opened before the Doctor could answer.

 

“I died too. Rallon and I both died while this coward fled.”, answered a blue-haired young woman. “Hello, Koschei. Theta.”

“Millennia? How?”

“Oh, you would like to know, won't you, Theta?”

“Stop calling me that. That's not my name.”

“No, I think I will continue, thank you very much.”. She turned towards Rose. “So, this is the insignificant human you broke the universe over? Can't say I see the appeal myself, those... things are just blips in time; not worth noticing. Though it shouldn't surprise me, you always had peculiar interests.”

“Leave her alone, Millennia, and answer my question!”

“I told you, she's not worth my time. By the way, she will be dealt with when I will have dispose of you.”

“Over my dead body. I'm the only one authorized to kill him.”, said Missy.

“Don't tempt me, Koschei. I don't have any grief with you but that could change.”

“Why are you doing that?”, asked the Doctor.

“Why? Why?! You left me and Rallon for centuries with the Toymaker! Then you finally came back and stood as Rallon sacrificed himself to save the universe from him. And you fled instead of trying to save us! We were used by a maniac for centuries and then died, all because of you! Why do you think I'm doing that?”

“I'm sorry.”

“Oh, he is sorry. Then everything is great! We never had a life, Theta! My fate, given a few more centuries, I could maybe come around but what happened to Rallon? Never.”

 

Millennia addressed one of the Nutcrackers guards.

 

“Go fetch him.”

“Rallon is here too?”

“How are you alive?”, insisted the Doctor.

 

Millennia sighed.

 

“We were revived.”

“Not that I am not happy to know that your alive and well, though I could do without the getting captured bit, but why bringing you back?”

“We were given a mission. And...”, she interrupted when the guard came back, followed by a sickly-looking, nearly comatose, man. “Tell me, Theta, does Rallon look “well” as you put it?”

“What happened to him?”

“He used all his regenerations at once and died. The trauma it induced remained with him even after our Mistress resurrected him.”

“Mistress?”, asked the Doctor looking at Missy with shock on his face.

“Not Koschei, you dim-wit! Though I reckon that you two have an history with Her.”

“Who?”

“Can't you guess? After all, she told you that she would have to interfere if you didn't do something about your human.”, Millennia took Rallon's arm and lead him outside of the cell. “It's Death.”, she added before locking her prisoners once again.

 

Death? Death had brought them back?

 

“Death?! _Death_ talked to you and you didn't thought you could tell me? I asked you to tell me everything that happened so I could help you and you left out that _Death_ had contacted you. Don't you think that I would have wanted to know that she was lurking about? Rassilon, you're useless!”

“I don't like to talk about her. Especially with you. Like Millennia said, we do have a history. And it's all my fault.”

“That it is.”

“Sorry, but would you mind explaining to me what is happening? And, Death is a person?”, intervened Rose.

“Yes, we would mind.”, answered Missy. “Don't you see we're having a discussion? Or is your little monkey brain not able to comprehend something so basic?”

“Rose, Millennia and Rallon were friends of ours when we were at the Academy; I told you about the Academy, didn't I?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Missy and I, as well as Millennia and Rallon, were part of a group of friends who...”

“Talk about yourself. I never was friends with Vansell or Jelpax. Come to think, neither were you.”

“Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that we were all part of the Deca, does it? Now shut up, I'm talking.”

“So you are willing to play story time for the little monkey but when I asked you to talked to me you refused?”

“I told you to shut up. And I ended telling you. As I was saying we were all part of the same group of more-or-less friends who came together due to our studying achievements.”

“Still was better than you.”

“One day,”, the Doctor continued ignoring Missy's interrupting, “Millennia, Rallon and I took a TARDIS and …

“You _stole_ a TARDIS.”

“We _borrowed_ a TARDIS and travelled to the realm of the Celestial Toymaker. We had read a lot about him and were curious to see what was real and what was not. We were young and we didn't foresaw the Toymaker being in need of a new body. He stole Rallon's. He then captured Millennia and made her one of his living toys. I managed to outwit him and he let me go. That's why I was expelled from the Academy. Later, in my fifth body, the Toymaker set a trap to capture me and the friends I was travelling with. It was Rallon's own sacrifice that saved me and my companions. The Toymaker realm was destroyed and Rallon and Millennia, as well as all his other living toys, died. And all I did was flee.”

”What a surprise!”, said Missy.

“Still do shut up. As for Death, she's... well, yes, she's a person. An incredibly powerful and irritating woman.”

“And she has the capacity de bring people back from the dead?”

“Yes.”

“Could she bring back my mum?”

“Rose. No. You don't want to make a deal with her, believe me, I would know.”

“Understatement of the millennium”, said Missy.

“Rose, she would only cause more pain and sorrow. And Jackie and you would be eternally in debt of her. You would be her things. I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do for Jackie.”

“Yeah.”

 

The Doctor took Rose in his arms, trying to soothe her.

 

“Millennia said that you and Missy had a history with Death.”, said Rose some time later.

“I don't want to talk about it.”

“Ashamed of what you did, aren't you?”, she turned towards Rose. “I will tell you all of it, little monkey.”

“Missy.”

“No, I won't shut up. I'm as concerned as you by this story and I am not ashamed. Listen closely little monkey. Once upon a time...”

“Really? That's how you start?”

“Shut up, I'm talking.”, mimicked Missy, “Once upon a time, there were two young Time Lords who were good friends even if one of those would some day ask herself why. The two boys had the misfortune to be targeted by a bully. For months, the two boys endured it but one day, as they were minding their own business by the river Lethe, the bully who was called Torvic, found them and try to drown one of the boys. When they never did anything before, this day one of the boy had enough and when he saw what Torvic was doing to his friend, he took a stone and hit him with it. Torvic died.”

“It's horrible.”

“Hush, listen to your Mistress. The story is not finished. The two friends hide the body and their crime. They decided to never talk about it. Some time later, a night as they were sleeping, a woman appeared to the one who had hit Torvic. It was Death. She said to him he would become her champion unless he gave her someone else to take his place. He told her to take his friend. The boy sold his best friend to save himself. Your precious Doctor sold me to Death to save his skin, the coward. That's the kind of hero he is.”

“He was a kid.”

“So was I! But that's not even all. Century later, he made another deal with Death. She would free me from her control for ten years if he promised to kill me at the end of those ten years. He accepted. I was made human, forgot who I was. I became a doctor of all things and fell in love. And he came back and I lost the woman I loved.”

“But the Doctor didn't killed you.”

“Of course not, I already told you he's a coward. It didn't mattered in the end; I had remembered who I really was and I became Death's champion once again.”

“What does it entail being Death's champion?”

“What do you think? I'm fated to cause death for as long as I live. But I had decided to try and stop it, that's why I sought the Doctor out. I had managed to hid myself from her for so long and this idiot forgot to tell me about her being in the vicinity.”

“Can't we do something to free you definitively from her? We can't let her toy with you.”

“Why do you even care?”

“Because that's not fair that you're cursed because a little boy was scared millennia ago. What can we do, Doctor?”

“Nothing. Do you think that I would have left my older friend to this fate if I knew what to do, if something could be done, Rose?”

“No. What about Millennia?”

“What about Millennia?”

“She's under Death influence, isn't she? Can't we help her either?”

“No.”

“We can always kill her again.”, said Missy.

“We are not killing anyone!”, shouted the Doctor.

“It's not as if I wanted to do so. She was my friend too. But I know what hold Death can have on somebody. And frankly, Doctor, she is nothing like the Millennia we knew. She used to be the sweetest kid, now she's only talking about revenge and killing. What proof do we have that it really is her and Rallon and not more Death's creations?”

 

They weren't proof, but something told him they really were who they pretended to be and he knew Missy felt so too but was only looking for something to lessen her guilt of talking of killing their former friends.

 

 

Missy looked as her two cellmates suddenly fell unconscious on the ground.

 

“What the...?”

“Don't worry about them. I just needed to talk to you in private.”, said the unmistakable voice of Death. “Look at you, aren't you a pretty little thing, now. Femininity suits you.”

 

Missy wasn't often scared but at the moment she was terrified.

 

“Don't look at me like that, little Time Lady, I'm not here to hurt you. I told you, I just want to talk. And maybe make a deal, if you are up to it. I'm sure you would find it very agreeable.”

“Why don't you go and make one with the doctor; after all that wouldn't be the first time. Just try to keep me out of it for once.”

“I fear that it is not possible. But I assure you it is in your best interest to accept it.”

“I think I'll pass, thank you.”

“Well, I was ready to free you from your obligation to me, but if you're sure.”

“Really?”

“Really. No trick this time.”

“Start talking.”

 

 

The Doctor woke up on the floor of the TARDIS control room with Rose by his side. Getting up he saw Missy who were piloting the ship.

 

“How did we ended back here? What did you do?”

“Nothing more than what I had to do to save you and your precious little monkey.”

“What did you do?”, he repeated.

 

He tried to walk towards the Time Lady but he was stopped by an invisible barrier.

 

“Sorry, dear, I had to confine you. Can't have you messing things up.”

“Missy, tell me.”

“I made a deal with Death. She promised my freedom if I agreed. I couldn't refuse.”

“You know she's a liar.”

“Not this time. She was desperate.”

“What did she want from you, then?”

“Nothing much really. Just me delivering you and Sleeping Monkey somewhere.”

“Where? Where are you taking us?”

“Gallifrey.”

 

 

“No, you can't! Please, Missy. They'll take Rose.”

“Probably, yes. They will surely take her and send her to her true place. But it's the only way to fix things. Though I'm not averse to a little destruction of a solar system or ten once in a while myself, we're talking about the destruction of time itself, here; I can't have that, I could die which you know I'm quite averse to do so.”

“Don't do that, Missy. Please.”

“I'm sorry, dear, but I have to.”

 

 

The Doctor was still shouting at Missy when the TARDIS landed. The Time Lady opened the door and immediately five armed guards entered; two seized the Doctor after the force field was lowered and two others picked Rose of the floor. Both prisoners where led out of the ship.

 

“You are to stay here.” the last guard said to Missy, “Don't try to left the planet, the ship is grounded; you wouldn't be able to do much more than explode the dematerialisation circuit anyway.”

“So I'm a prisoner too? I brought you the Doctor and the human and that's how I'm thanked? Let me tell you, I'm a little bit hurt. I might even cry a wee bit.”

“You're still wanted for questioning concerning the circumstances of Rassilon's death. And you stand accused of multiple other offences, the last of them being your escape from the Panopticon's jail.”

“I had things to do, people to see, I couldn't stay.”

“This time you'll stay here. President's order. Try to escape and next time we find you, we execute you.”

“Who's the President anyway? Still this stupid kid? What was her name again?”

 

The guard didn't answer and left the TARDIS.

 

 

The Doctor and Rose, escorted by their guards, entered the courtroom near the Panopticon, where all Counsellors and the heads of every of the six Colleges and the main Houses were waiting. The two prisoners were led to the dock where there were told to sit and wait silently.

A few moment later a door opened behind the Counsellors; everyone except the Doctor and Rose stood up.

 

“President Romanadvoratrelundar.”, announced a guard.

“Sit.”, said the President as she herself took place on her high chair.

 

The Doctor watched his old friend. She had changed since the last time he saw her; which shouldn't be surprising – the last time he saw her was more than a millennium ago.

 

“Lord Doctor, you are accused of tampering with the fabric of time and endangering billions of lives. Miss Rose Marion Tyler, you're suspected to helping the Lord Doctor.

“She's innocent!”, billowed the Doctor. “Judge me, condemn me all you want, but leave her alone.”

“The accused will stay silent until he's said otherwise.”

“Romana! Listen to me!”

“You will address the Lady President respectfully!”

“Alright!”, responded the Doctor angrily. “Madam President, Rose doesn't need to be put on trial. I beg you to let her go.”

“Miss Tyler,” started Romana, “did you know that the Doctor had taken you from your original timeline, provoking a paradox?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“See, Doctor, your companion is not as innocent as you want us to believe.”

“She couldn't have done anything. Everything is on me.”

“That will be determined during the course of this trial.”

 

 

Data had been extracted from the Matrix; both from the current timeline and the one that had been rewritten. Both timelines had been compared and the Doctor was forced to watch as former companions – friends – died, as planets who had been saved the first time now burned, as people never had the chance to fulfil their destiny. He watched as the Nightmare Child devoured planet after planet, trying to stop the damage afflicted to Time.

 

_He and Ianto had met Donna again and this time she boarded the TARDIS with them once they had finish to save the day. Time had been good. They had freed the Ood, saved the Earth – but had to let Pompeii be destroyed –they had met Agatha Christie – finally! –and seen a planet entirely made of diamond._

_Then stars had begun to disappear and planets had been moved. It hadn't been simple but they had managed to find the twenty-six planets hidden in the Medusa Cascade, then gained access to the Daleks' ship with the help of Mickey, one of his friend from UNIT and Sarah Jane. Like the first time, Donna had been trapped in the TARDIS when the other ones exited it._

 

As he watched it, the Doctor understood that without his fight against the Sycorax leader while regenerating, and the subsequent loss of his hand, Donna was condemned to die. Though, the Universe had a mind of his own and seemed to think that Donna was to important to disappear yet.

 

_When Donna had heard an echo of the heart of the metacrisis Doctor in the first timeline, this version of his friend heard a voice. Her own voice. The voice of the Doctor!Donna who explained to her how to open the heart of the TARDIS and how to use this to save herself and the ship. When she had done so, Rose had become the Bad Wolf; Donna, for her part, became an amalgam of a human and a Time Lord consciousness. The Doctor!Donna was born and she saved the Reality itself. Nevermind the timelines, Donna was always the most important woman in the Universe; a woman the Ood would sing songs about for all of eternity._

_Once again, he had had to wipe Donna's memory of her time with him. But this time, he hadn't be alone; Ianto had helped him with the grief. But the young man had left after their encounter with Jackson Lake; he missed his family, especially his nephew and niece, and he feared that if he continue to travel with the Doctor, some day something would happen to him and that he won't be able to see them again._

 

The Doctor wondered briefly what had happened to the Ianto from the first timeline, Jack never did say. At the same time, the Doctor never asked anything about Torchwood and its members when Jack and him had met. They stumbled upon each other once or twice per century, going on adventures or to the nearest bar, depending on the mood and whom they were travelling with at the moment. The week they had spent with Amy on Trion – where they met with Turlough – was one of the most surreal he even lived (and one of his least sober ones too).

 

The timelines continued to be compared and analysed as the Doctor remembered fondly his former companions while his current one, the most important of all, held his hand.

 

 

Contrary to the last time he had been put on trial by the Time Lords, there was no witness – bar Rose and Missy who had been brought the second day of the audience – for which the Doctor was happy. The data extracted from the Matrix had been enough; he wouldn't had be able to deal with the consequences of his actions would he had find himself face to face with some of the people he had ruined the lives by changing the timelines. The quiet sobbing of Rose when she discovered what her mother's life had been in the original timeline, with Pete and Tony, had been enough to break his hearts.

 

 

“... The Council had hesitated for a long time when your former companion, miss Clara Oswald, had pleaded for us to grant you a new regeneration cycle. The main reason had been the knowledge of a prophecy predicting that your last regeneration would bring the nefarious Valeyard to life. While this didn't came to pass, some of your actions, the meeting and subsequent travelling with Miss Tyler primarily, arise some questions. Some members of this tribunal have...”

 

The Doctor was bored out of his mind from the long speech of the Prosecutor. Bored and scared; he knew that soon the Counsellors and the heads of the Colleges and main Houses would have to decide if he was guilty or innocent (as if) and come with a sentence fitting of his crime. He wasn't really scared for him but he was terrified of what they would decide to do with Rose; though he feared he would have to be separated from her.

 

“...and the wiping the memories of both accused.”

“Thank you Prosecutor.”, said Romana. “The audience is adjourned until a verdict is agreed upon.”

 

 

Only the Counsellors, the Prosecutor – which he now recognized as one of the Lungbarrow cousins, one of his own cousins – and the President had come back.

 

“The accused will arise to listen to the verdict.”

 

 

The Doctor had shouted while Rose cried. The Time Lord had wanted to hug the young woman but as soon as the Prosecutor had finished to enunciate the verdict, they had been separated and led to different rooms where the sentence had been carried with.

 

 

The Doctor closed the doors of the TARDIS and collapsed in his seat. It was strange but he felt like it had been months, maybe years, since him and Clara had said their goodbyes instead of the mere minute it had really been. Actually, he felt years older than he had been before he entered the TARDIS. No, he _was_ older, he just knew it. Just to be sure he asked his ship to run some tests. Tests which confirmed it.

What had happened between leaving Clara in the middle of Glasgow and now?

And why couldn't he stop thinking about bloody roses? What did have ruddy flowers to do with anything? Rose. Rose. Why did the word couldn't leave his mind? Oh.

Rose was the human word for Arkytior which had been the real name, the birth name, of Susan. Did something happened to his grand-daughter? Was she safe now?

Before he could reason with himself, he had set the coordinates to the last place and time he saw her.

 

 

Somewhere in time and space, Rose and the ninth incarnation of the Doctor were running for their life, both of them unaware of the paradox that their meeting had resolve.

 

 

FIN

 


End file.
